Residents demand factory closure

Residents demand factory closure

TANGERANG: Residents in Karang Tengah subdistrict in Tangerang
municipality have asked the local administration to shut down a
plastics factory operated by PT Aries as its liquid waste
discharges had polluted their wells.

"Officials of the municipal environmental agency took water
samples from residents' wells to be examined last year. But to
date, we haven't received any reports on the test results," Asmin
Hidayat, the head of community unit (RW) 05, said on
Saturday.

He said residents had lost patience after waiting for one year
with no sign of the test results being announced by the agency.
"In the meantime, we can no longer use the water from our wells
as it has been polluted by the waste. We demand that the factory
be closed," he said.

A number of RW-05 residents told The Jakarta Post that they
could no longer drink or use the water for bathing or other
purposes. Many of them had suffered skin ailments and they had to
buy water for their daily needs.

"Look at the body, legs and hands of my son. They are covered
with ulcers and sores, and it's all because of using the polluted
water for bathing," a resident named Untung said.

Separately, Maria, the owner of PT Aries, strongly denied that
her factory had polluted the residents' wells. "These accusations
are groundless and fabricated. They're not true. I am sure this
is all the work of people who are jealous of us and have tried to
purposely provoke the residents," said Maria, who established the
factory with her husband Ari in 1996.--JP