Pollution complaints investigated
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The office of the State Minister of the Environment is to deploy an investigative team to analyze liquid waste allegedly dumped by five companies into rivers in Tangerang regency.
Sugeng Prayitno of the minister's office said on Friday that if the analysis results confirmed that the five companies had polluted the rivers, the team would file a report with the police for further investigation.
"Complaints from regencies do not just stop at the minister's office. In fact, it is our duty to follow up on the case," he said after a gathering with 26 district officials from Tangerang to introduce the Environmental Law.
Sugeng said environmental minister Nabiel Makarim would be serious in processing any complaints on pollution and environmental damage.
"Therefore, we are deploying a team to verify the regency's complaints, then we can take them to court," he said.
However, he did not say when the team would be deployed.
Under Chapter VIII, Article 40 of Law No. 23/1997 on the environment, authorized officers can be dispatched to investigate allegations of pollution or environmental damage, and are obliged to report their findings to the police.
The regency's environmental agency had sent warnings to 25 companies earlier this year for allegedly dumping their liquid waste into the rivers.
Most of the companies did not possess Environmental Impact Assessment (Amdal) certificates, nor did they operate liquid waste treatment plants (IPAL) on their premises. Even those with treatment plants opted to dump their liquid waste into the rivers to reduce operational costs.
Of the 25 companies, 20 had improved their systems, but the other five did not respond.
Tangerang regent Ismet Iskandar filed complaints against the five companies to the minister's office on Aug. 20.
Polluted rivers mostly flow into the Java Sea and had thus affected fisheries in Tangerang's coastal areas. The fish farmers had to stop their activities, as their fish and shrimp died from the pollution.