PLN urged to act on complaint
TANGERANG (JP): Members of the National Commission on Human Rights have asked the state-owned electricity company (PLN) to temporarily turn off the 500,000-volt electric current flowing through cables suspended over the Ciledug Indah housing estate in the Tangerang area, Greater Jakarta.
While inspecting the Ciledug Indah housing estate on Thursday, member of the commission Djoko Sugianto said, "We hope that PLN will agree to turn off the high voltage current while we try to solve the problem."
Djoko's statement follows complaints made to the commission on Wednesday by residents of the Ciledug Indah housing estate concerning the bad effects of high voltage electrical cables suspended over their housing complex.
Spokesman for the residents Charles Christofel told commission members Brig. Gen. (Ret) Roekmini K. Astoeti and Djoko Soegianto that residents of Ciledug Indah have suffered physically since Nov. 25 when PLN activated the high voltage cables.
Charles said residents have been getting headaches, feeling nauseous, have irregular heart beats and get itchy skin irritations. If a fluorescent lamp is pointed to the sky, it will turn on, without being connected to an electrical plug, he said.
During the site inspection Roekmini and Djoko witnessed a test pen turning on when one of the residents touched it to a television antenna.
Another resident, H. Muas told The Jakarta Post that radiation from the cables also obstructed television and radio signals.
During the inspection, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Roekmini praised the residents for trying to solve their problem in a constructive way by reporting it to the relevant bodies.
"If we see this matter from the legal point of view, the residents are not illegal inhabitants because they have legal documentation such as the certificates of land ownership (HGB) and house construction permits (IMB) as evidence, Roekmini said.
She also queried the Tangerang administration's city planning policy which made the land in Ciledug Indah unsuitable for a housing complex.
"Why did the administration give permission to the developer when they already knew the land was allocated for the building of transmission towers of high voltage cables?," she queried.
In April 1985, West Java Deputy Governor Aboeng Koesman issued the permit for PT Duta Megah Perdana to build a housing estate on the 20-hectare plot of land in Tangerang. The permit was based on the March 27, 1985 recommendation of Tangerang Regent Tadjus Sobirin.
The 250 residents have lived in Ciledug Indah since 1987. They bought the houses from real estate developer PT Duta Megah Perdana. In 1990 PLN started the high voltage cable towers project.
The present Tangerang regent H. Saifullah Abdulrachman told Kompas daily on Wednesday that the residents of Ciledug should move to other places. "Then other problems arise. Who is going to pay the costs?," the regent said.
Charles said that so far PLN has not given any sign that it will give the residents compensation because, PLN said, the project is for public use.
Charles said the residents have agreed to go to the U.S. embassy if the human rights commission fails to help them.
Without going into details, Charles said, "If the National Commission on Human Rights fails to help us then we will go to the U.S. embassy to complain about the violation of our rights." (13/mas)