Fish farmers want city to pay compensation
Fish farmers want city to pay compensation
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Twenty-four fish farmers in Cilincing subdistrict, North Jakarta,
demanded on Wednesday that the city administration provide Rp 340
million (US$40,476) in compensation for polluting their fish
farms by dumping waste in a nearby swampland that is the site of
Cilincing dump.
The compensation was calculated from the potential profits
they estimate to have lost from the pollution. The farmers are
also considering a class action against the administration if it
does not compensate them for their losses.
State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim and his
deputy Darsono, who is in charge of legal affairs, met with the
farmers' representatives and promised to help them claim
compensation from the Jakarta Administration.
"We hope the administration will pay for our losses. If it
refuses to meet our demand, we will file a report with the
police," fish farmer Eddy Djubaedi told The Jakarta Post.
Eddy has a 2.5-hectare fish farm and nine hectares of rice
fields near Cilincing dump.
Other fish farms have also been affected by liquid waste that
has allegedly seeped from the dump since Jakarta started to dump
its garbage at Cilincing after it withdrew from Bantar Gebang
dump in Bekasi municipality on Jan. 4.
Jakarta and Bekasi finally agreed on Monday to reopen Bantar
Gebang and the dump started processing the capital's waste again
on Wednesday.
Eddy said the farmers would not be able to farm fish for the
next five years due to the pollution. The state minister's office
had confirmed earlier that the liquid waste from Cilincing dump
had polluted the farmers' fish farms and destroyed their stock.
The city administration has denied the allegations.
Darsono said the office would follow up the reports by
investigating the problems the fish farms were facing.
The results of the investigation will provide evidence to
support the farmers' demand for compensation from the capital, he
said, while strengthening an earlier report that showed pollution
at the farms.
"We are ready to facilitate talks between the farmers and the
capital," he said, adding that the office would help farmers to
file a class action, if necessary.
Darsono said the office had also considered taking the Jakarta
Administration to court for damaging the environment around
Cilincing dump.
The state minister's office is authorized under Law No.
23/1997 on environmental protection to take legal action against
those causing environmental damage.
Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan
said the police could investigate into the allegations of
environmental damage under the Environmental Law, and hoped they
would take an active stance in the matter.