Banpu Kitadin asked to pay compensation

Members of the legislative assembly of the Kutai Kartanegara (Kukar) regency in East Kalimantan have asked coal mining company PT Banpu Kitadin to pay compensation in a bid to end the blockade of its mining area by the local residents, local newspaper Kaltim Post reported Saturday.

"Kitadin should talk to the villagers and decide the fair value of the compensation," said Bakhtiar Effendi, the chairman of the assembly said during a meeting between the company's management and villagers.

Residents living near the company's mining site have blocked the access road to Banpu's mining site in a protest against alleged pollution caused by the company's operation on their farming areas.

Bakhtiar said that if after being given compensation, the residents continue to block the road, he would encourage the company to report the case to the local police.

The company denied that it had caused pollution but the local residents insisted that their farming areas had been seriously damaged by the company's operation. (*)