Villagers demand KPC to pay land compensation
Friday, February 23 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
Hundreds of young men of the Bengalon area in East Kutai district, East Kalimantan, staged a rally at the local administration headquarters to demand the giant coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) to pay around Rp 3.2 billion in compensation for some 3.2 ha of land taken over by the company, the local Kaltim Post daily reported on Friday.
The paper said that the villagers staged the protest after the company recently provided a compensation for another group of villagers claiming to own some 800 ha land now included in the company's mining site.
The paper said that the local East Kutai administration has urged KPC to form a special team to check and prove the claim of the Bengalon villagers. If the 3.2 ha plot of land really belongs to the villagers, the company must provide the same compensation.(*)