E. Java complains of water theft

SURABAYA: The East Java administration lodged a strong protest with the Central Java government over their siphoning water from Bengawan Solo river, which crosses the border areas of the two provinces.

"A inter-provincial agreement has been prepared to distribute the allocation of water from Bengawan Solo. But in fact, the Central Java had already been stealing our water," head of the East Java irrigation office Hartoyo said on Friday.

He said his office had lodged a verbal complaint with the Central Java irrigation office, but they had yet to respond.

Hartoyo said the theft occurred in the border areas of Sragen and Ngawi, and that this had caused water shortages in the western parts of East Java. -- Antara