Government communicates with neighbouring countries over forest fire haze
Jakarta (ANTARA) - State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi said the government has communicated with neighbouring countries regarding the impact of haze from forest and land fires (karhutla).
Prasetyo said the communication was carried out informally as well as through formal channels by Foreign Minister Sugiono.
“Informally there is communication, formally as neighbouring countries through the Foreign Minister there is certainly communication. That is why we are trying as quickly as possible to handle this karhutla,” Prasetyo said at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, Jakarta, Sunday.
Prasetyo said the communication was carried out in line with the government’s efforts to accelerate the handling of karhutla domestically.
The government, Prasetyo said, continues to strengthen the handling of karhutla on the ground through cross-sector coordination.
In addition, the central government has divided assignments among a number of minister-level officials to give special attention to the handling of karhutla in several regions.
“So we divide the tasks for attention to West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and so on. We arrange it like that,” he said.
He explained that the division of tasks involved a number of officials, including Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Djamari Chaniago and Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno.
Army Chief of Staff General TNI Maruli Simanjuntak was also given responsibility to pay attention to one of the regions in the handling of karhutla.
However, Prasetyo stressed that the division of regions does not mean the officials are only responsible for the regions that have been determined.
“Do not interpret it as not being responsible for other regions. This is only dividing attention so that there is acceleration,” he said.
Regarding the formation of a special task force for handling karhutla, Prasetyo said the government has not seen the need to form a new structure.
According to him, the cross-sector coordination currently running is already strong enough to handle karhutla on the ground.
“I think not yet, because yesterday the results from the field handling were also coordinated cross-sector and were already quite strong,” he said.
The government, Prasetyo said, continues to deploy various elements and resources so that karhutla can be controlled immediately so that its impact does not spread further.
“We all work on it together,” Prasetyo said.
The government previously increased efforts to control and handle karhutla in Kalimantan and Sumatra by deploying 12,880 personnel for firefighting efforts, weather modification operations, and air quality monitoring.
President Prabowo Subianto has also led a meeting on handling karhutla in Kalimantan, including coordinating with a number of Red and White Cabinet ministers in Central Kalimantan on Saturday (22/8).
One of the directives delivered was to provide additional equipment and supporting facilities for firefighting including four water bombing helicopters, 100 water pumps, 2,000 units of personal protective equipment, gepyok hoes, bore wells, and water hoses.