Thousands of fish die after power trouble

PEKANBARU, Riau: At least 10 tons of fish in karamba (baskets in a stream for raising fish) in Kampar River died after the water level in the river dropped sharply from Saturday to Sunday.

Zamri, the head of Kuok village in West Bangkinang district, complained on Monday that the drop in the water level was due to the sluice gate at Kotopanjang Dam being closed.

Tony Hutabarat, an official at state electricity company PT PLN's Pekanbaru office who oversees the dam, acknowledged that the sluice gate had been shut a few days ago after three turbines at the Kotopanjang power plant broke down. He said, however, that officials at the power plant opened the gate manually on Monday in order to allow water to flow into the river so that the karamba business could return to normal. -- JP