Bekasi yet to hear probe on dump

BEKASI: Bekasi City Council canceled on Monday a meeting to hear the result of the investigation into Jakarta's use of Bantar Gebang dump conducted by a special team due to the absence of many members of the council's special committee dealing with the issue.

The meeting was led by council deputy chairman Abdul Manan and was attended by only nine members out of 19.

According to a committee member interviewed by Antara, many of the absent members had lost in the recent legislative election.

Chairman of the investigating team, Wahyu Prihantono, expressed disappointment with the absence of council chairman Ismail Ibrahim.

Wahyu said that the next meeting had not been scheduled yet but he expected it to be held soon as the meeting would determine whether Bekasi would renege on the agreement with Jakarta to use the area as a dump.

The investigation was held following public protests over the presence of the dump who claimed the dumping activities had severely polluted the area and caused respiratory problems due to the foul air and diarrhea due to contaminated ground water. -- JP