PLN urged to act on complaint
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)