Lava kills 4.6 tons of fish
Lava kills 4.6 tons of fish
BANDUNG, West Java: Lava from West Java's highly active Mount Papandayan has killed nearly 5 tons of fish, the Ministry of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs said on Saturday.
Ministry's production and conservation head for Garut regency, Nandang Sutara, said the lava entered the Dawuan irrigation channel and Cimanuk River, burying 11 fish ponds and killing 1,200 fish fry and 4.6 tons of mature fish.
"The owners of the fish ponds did not have the chance to close the entrance gates prior to the arrival of the mudslide."
Nandang called on the owners of the ponds to place blocks at the entrance gates to minimize the impact of unexpected lava.- Antara.
Antara;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Fund-misuse-probe-Across
A bridge to nowhere
JAMBI, Jambi: The Jambi Provincial Prosecutor's Office is dispatching a team to investigate the alleged misuse of funds in the Rp 26 billion (US$2.9 million) Makalam bridge project.
Special crime prosecution assistant Pudji Basuki said a report claiming the bridge was 55 percent complete was far from the truth.
About 60 percent or Rp 15 billion of the total funds had been disbursed but the bridge was less than 40 percent complete, he said.
"We will investigate who must be held accountable for the alleged misuse of the funds," he said.-Antara.
;Antara;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Semarang-Bappeda-corpses JP/5/ACROSS
Local govt to investigate meat sale
SEMARANG, Central Java: The Semarang Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) and the local office of Animal Husbandry will carry out a joint inquiry over meat from unlicensed sources sold in markets here.
Head of Research and Development of Bappeda Abu Sudjak Isa said on Saturday the inquiry was necessary to protect consumers from any possible health problems.
"We have observed that several meat traders in Kobong, Peterongan and Bulu markets indeed sell meat from unlicensed sources, which probably comes from neighboring cities," he said.
He was referring to beef and chicken which has not been slaughtered at authorized slaughterhouses. "The meat is from cattle or chicken which have been shot or road kill."
Meat supplied from neighboring cities reaches 2 tons per day to meet the demand of a total of 1.4 million people in the Central Java capital.
Total meat demand in Semarang stands at 4.5 tons daily.
Abu Sudjak said his office would closely monitor the entry of such meat into the markets to protect the residents of Semarang from diseases from contaminated meat.-Antara.
;Antara;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Assistance-fund-corruption JP/5/ACROSS
Assistance fund allegedly misused
LUBUK LINGGAU, South Sumatra: Billions of rupiah of the assistance fund for Village Community Empowerment (PMD) for 2003 in Musi Rawas regency, South Sumatra has allegedly been misused by local government officials, a report said.
"245 village heads at 15 subdistricts have received only Rp 4 million (US$450) from an original fund of Rp 9 million," a village head at Jayaloka subdistrict, who request anonymity, said on Saturday.
The village heads were asked to sign a receipt for Rp 9 million but in actual fact they only received Rp 4 million in cash.
The official said he did not know who exactly skimmed off the funds as he was only given the money and the receipts to sign.
Several subdistrict heads refused to comment, while the PMD chief at Musi Rawas regency was out of town until Monday.--Antara