Hundreds of South Kalimantan villagers protest environmental destruction
Villagers protest Adaro over land compensation
Wednesday, July 26 2000 - 03:00 AM WIB
Hundreds of households of the Desa Batang Banyu village in Pengaron sub district, Banjar district, South Kalimantan province, visited on Monday the offices of the provincial human rights commission (Komnas HAM) and the Walhi environmental watchdog to complain about the environmental destruction by the local coal mining companies.
The Palangkaraya-based Kapos daily reported that the villagers made the protest because the waste materials from the coal mining operation had destroyed their paddy fields and plants. They said that farming had been their source of living.
The villagers said that before coal mining companies entered their village in 1993, the farming business was doing quite well.
They said that now there were eight coal mining companies operating in the area.
The villagers also said that they had been threaten not to continue their protest.
Kapos said that some 90 ha of farming land had been heavily polluted by coal waste materials. The villagers had earlier filed a legal suit at the Martapura Court, but the court ruled in favor of the coal mining companies.
Meanwhile, Kapos also reported that hundreds of people of the Desa Warukin village, in Tabalong district, held a protest against coal mining firm PT Adaro over land compensation.
The protesters blockaded the road access to the mining operation causing disruption in the company's daily operation. The villagers demanded Adaro to pay a better compensation for the land acquired by the company in the past. (*)