Palangka Raya, Ekuatorial – Despite of arresting hundred of suspects, Central Kalimantan Police has yet to find involvement from oil palm companies over recent forest fires, said an official on Friday (10/10), in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan.
Up to date, the police had named 110 suspects from 14 districts over forest fires but none of them were from companies.
Most of them were individuals burning their own areas but became negligent of the fires which went through other areas.
Rawing Rambang, head of Central Kalimantan Plantation Agency, said that they were still investigating on Major Private Plantation in these forest fires and harsh punishment will apply for them if convicted.
“We are coordinating with the police and environmental agency. We will also check on the ground. If there are fires in plantations owned by private companies and they failed to tackle it, then we will revoke their permits,” he said adding that private sectors were obliged to secure their concessions, particularly preparing for fire extinguishers.
However, he said that most of those plantations obtained their permits from district heads and did not report them to the provincial government so it would be hard to locate their existence.
“We are having difficulties these plantations meanwhile in the provincial regulation, all companies applying for permits must coordinate and get recommendation from the governor. In other words, those plantations are illegal,” he said.
Furthermore, he warned plantations already listed in the provincial government to be monitoring their concessions areas. “Don’t get burned. If they spotted hotspots, they need to put it out or lose their permits if failed to do so,” he said. Maturidi
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