Illegal buildings to be demolished

BOGOR (JP): Bogor administration is set to dismantle 30 illegal buildings on the Gunung Mas tea plantation, Puncak, spokesman Helmi Gustian said on Friday.

"If we let illegal buildings mushroom in the area, many will follow and they will ruin the environmental side of the plantation as a green belt area," Helmi said.

The action is to be conducted soon, following reports of the looting and destruction of hundreds of hectares of tea plantations by hired mobs in the Gunung Mas area causing at least Rp 8.2 billion in losses.

It is alleged that the mobs, hired by land brokers, vandalized the plantations to evict the farmers and later occupy the land, before selling it to interested parties to develop villas or other buildings.

Gunung Mas has a total of 1,700 hectares of tea plantations, which are located in eight villages, namely Tugu Selatan, Kopo, Citeko, Cikupa, Sukamanah, Sukagalih, Sukaresti and Sukalaya. The villages are part of Bogor's Megamendung and Cisarua districts. (21/edt)