Govt fails to punish recalcitrant miners

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has failed to fulfill its promise to punish recalcitrant coal mining companies operating in South Kalimantan, Banjarmasin Pos reported on Saturday.

According to the newspaper, the ministry had set April 5 as the deadline to decide the fate of the 10 mining companies in the province, which have been accused of either violating their contracts of works or operating without proper permits. The deadline passed without any sanctions imposed, and the ministry later said that it had to extend the deadline to April 15 to allow its staff to reevaluate their charges.

The head of the local mining office, Suharna A Rasid, said that the reevaluation was needed because some of the 10 mining companies denied the charges. "We will see on April 15 what we will do with the mining firms," he said.

The 10 mining operators, mostly comprising of small companies and cooperatives, have been found of violating mining regulations. The ministry has warned the company to stop their illegal activities. Otherwise their operations would be closed down.

But Governor of South Kalimantan was not so happy with the ministry's plan to impose a harsh measure against the small mining firms. He said that these mining companies should be protected to allow the local people benefit from the province's rich natural resources, which are at present controlled mostly by foreign investors.

The governor said that the ministry should not close their operations but instead invited them to register their operations. "They should be given second chance to conduct mining activities properly," the governor said