Bapedal to seu 13 polluting firms
Bapedal to seu 13 polluting firms
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The North Sumatra Regional Environmental Impact Management Agency
(Bapedalda) said on Thursday that it would again file a lawsuit
against at least 13 major companies in the province accused of
polluting the environment.
"The companies are 13 of 85 large companies on the blacklist
that have been shown to be polluting the environment," Bapedalda
chairman Hakimil Nasution told The Jakarta Post.
He said the accused firms, including hospitals and those
operating in the industry, agriculture and forestry sectors,
produced "dangerous toxic waste" in their operations.
The 13 polluting companies are: PT Gunung Gapi Sakti, PT
Growth Sumatera Indonesia, PT Sinar Mulia, Gleneagles Hospital,
Materna Hospital, Elizabeth Hospital, PT Allegrindo Nusantara, PT
Sumpido Kencana, PT Damai Abadi, PT Kelambir Jaya, PT Sari Tani
Jaya Sumatera and PT Alpo Citra Abadi.
Hakimil could not say when his office would file the lawsuits
against the 13 companies, as their dossiers were being compiled
now.
Bapedalda had sued the same firms before, but a district court
dismissed the lawsuit, claiming that their case files were not
complete.
"We will continue our efforts to take them (13 companies) to
court for legal recourse, like we did against PT Everbright,"
Hakimil said.
PT Everbright, a battery manufacturing company, was sued last
year for environmental damages and the Medan District Court found
it guilty of polluting. Its director was sentenced to one year in
prison and fined Rp 100 million (US$11,904).
He said Bapedalda was also investigating 72 other companies
and would take them to court on similar charges, if they were
found to be producing and releasing pollutants into the
environment.
The blacklisted 85 companies operate in 15 regencies in North
Sumatra, including 11 in Binjai, 10 in Tanjung Balai, nine in
Simalungun, eight in Karo, seven in Pematang Siantar and six in
Central Tapanuli.
Bapedalda's plans to sue these companies has received positive
response from members of the North Sumatra legislative council.
The legislators have even called on Bapedalda to be made an
independent agency, "so it will have more power to investigate
all pollution cases," councillor Sanggam Bakkara said.