Police question factory executives on pollution<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The West Jakarta police have interrogated
\nexecutives of a briefcase factory following the death of a woman
\nand the hospitalization of four other people for respiratory
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
\"So far we have not reached any conclusions,\" the outgoing
\nWest Jakarta police chief, Lt. Col. Hari Pribadi, told The
\nJakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, a 33-year-old housewife died in Kapuk sub-
\ndistrict in Cengkareng. Four others, including Agus and her
\nseven-year-old son, fainted when they rushed to help her.<\/p>\n
Yesterday three others passed out too, all residents of Gang
\nJamblang, a small flood-prone alleyway near the factory of PT
\nContinental Panji Pratama. The three new patients were admitted
\nto Atmajaya hospital in Pluit, where the others had been treated
\nearlier.<\/p>\n
All the victims live in plywood shacks along the back wall of
\nthe factory, and are believed to have inhaled lethal fumes
\nemitted from waste water allegedly disposed of by company
\nworkers.<\/p>\n
An on-duty doctor, Djumrad Hadi, said the patients were
\nsuffering from dizziness and nausea.<\/p>\n
As of late yesterday the company director, Johan Iskandar, was
\nstill being questioned by police, along with chief technician
\nHadi Prabowo.<\/p>\n
\"We will take responsibility if our company is proven to have
\ncaused the victim's death,\" Johan said.<\/p>\n
The factory building on Jl. Berdikari 39 produces office
\nbriefcases and suitcases of the brand \"President\" for export.<\/p>\n
\"According to preliminary investigations, the fumes should
\nalso have affected factory employees on duty at the time if they
\nhad really been lethal,\" Lt. Col. Hari said.<\/p>\n
Health officials on the site had yet to determine whether the
\nprocessing of aluminum for the products had anything to do with
\nthis incident.<\/p>\n
The shacks, built in 1989, 14 years after the factory was
\nbuilt, are occupied by around 50 people, mostly construction
\nworkers and their kin from Serang, West Java.<\/p>\n
The chief technician, Hadi, was quoted yesterday as saying
\nthat he had told two employees to wash the factory's waste water
\ntub.<\/p>\n
The area's residents told the Post that on the day in question
\nthe water coming out of the back wall of the factory \"was boiling
\nlike battery water\" and that the fumes were \"indescribable.\"<\/p>\n
Reports said the police have cordoned off the site.<\/p>\n
Iman, the neighborhood community head, said complaints about
\nthe fumes cause dizziness and skin irritations, had been made to
\nthe management. The last complaint was in February.<\/p>\n
\"The management always says that pollution only occurs once in
\na while but we feel it twice a day almost daily,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Officials from the city's environmental bureau, and others
\nfrom the health agency visited the site and took water samples.<\/p>\n
The head of the bureau, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, said a lack
\nof ventilation around the factory's waste treatment plant may
\nhave caused the incident.<\/p>\n
He said that according to a 1982 law the owner faces a year in
\nprison -- or a Rp 1 million fine -- if proven guilty of causing
\nthe accident.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the council's commission for development
\naffairs, Bandjar Marpaung, said the company's operational permit
\nshould be revoked.<\/p>\n
\"Subdistrict heads should also step up the supervision of
\nfactories. They shouldn't be allowed to look the other way just
\nbecause the owners pay them off with bribes.\" Bandjar said.
\n(team)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-question-factory-executives-on-pollution-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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