Forest fires have delayed resettlement

Forest fires have delayed resettlement

JAKARTA (JP): More than 20,000 transmigrant families from
densely populated Java have had to delay their departure for
three-months due to the forest fires raging across the country, a
minister said yesterday.

The delay also means that the government will probably not be
able to achieve its target of resettling 65,000 families during
the 1997/1998 fiscal year.

"We prioritize their safety because some of the resettlement
sites have been razed by the fires," Antara quoted Minister of
Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo as saying.

Siswono said the transmigration program would resume after the
rainy season.

The ministry plans to send 20,000 families for this fiscal
year to the one million hectares of peat moss land project in
Central Kalimantan.

Fires are still razing some parts of the project area.

Peat fires smolder beneath the surface and continue to burn
unnoticed even after the surface fire is put out.

Central Kalimantan Governor Warsito Rasman ordered his
officials to remain alert as the haze worsened.

As of yesterday, 25 hot spots in the province could still not
be put out.

"We must also anticipate possible famine in remote areas,"
Warsito said. (prb)