Villagers ask Police to curb illegal coal mining
Tuesday, June 26 2001 - 03:41 AM WIB
Several people of the Sungai Cuka and Pandansari villages in Tanah Laut regency, South Kalimantan, visited on Monday the provincial Police headquarters to ask the authority to curb illegal coal mining activity in the villages, the local Banjarmasin Post reported.
The villagers said that the illegal coal mining activity in some 10 hectare of land belonging to the villagers had been organized by local businessman Abdurrachman.
They said that the illegal miners had made physical threat to villagers trying to stop them from continuing the mining activity.
The villagers said that the illegal miners paid around Rp 3,000 per ton of coal in 1999, but since 2000 the miners declined to fulfill their obligation. Some 2 million tons of coal is believed to have been exploited from the area.
They said that the illegal coal mining had only caused pollution and damaged the local environment.(*)