Lanna Harita meets with protesting villagers

Director of coal mining company PT Lanna Harita Indonesia (LHI) Harbiansyah Hanafiah met with some of the protesting villagers on Wednesday over a land dispute, the local Kaltim Post daily reported.

The paper said that the meeting was mediated by Samarinda Police chief Setyanto.

The paper said that the villagers demanded LHI to provide some form of compensation for their land acquired by the company.

Some villagers demanded a certain fee for every tons of coal derived from their land, while others demanded LHI to provide direct cash compensation for the land.

The protesting villagers had earlier blocked the heavy equipments of LHI, causing the company to be unable to operate normally.

But the paper quoted Harbiansyah as saying that the company had decided to stop the operation in the area until the problem with the villagers had been settled.(*)