Villagers stage a protest against Adaro
Wednesday, July 19 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Dozens of villagers from the Banjut Warukin village, Tanta sub district, Tabalong regency in South Kalimantan staged a peaceful protest on Monday against coal mining firm PT Adaro Indonesia for polluting their farming land.
The local Banjarmasin Post daily reported that the protest started at 10 in the morning till six in the afternoon on the Adaro mining road.
The villagers demanded a compensation for the pollution caused by dust from the company's coal transportation activity.
One of the protesters, Andreas, said that the villagers had to take to the street because they had loss patience as the company had so far neglected the demand first made in March.
Andreas said that the company and the local administration had formed an investigation team, which recommended that only 32 land parcels were proven to have been polluted. The villagers agreed.
But the company failed to reach agreement with the villagers on the amount of compensation. The company wanted to pay only Rp 1,250 per square meter, while the villagers demanded Rp 3,500 ($1 = Rp9,500) per sqm.
"Because of the failure to reach agreement we have to stage a demonstration. We think that our demand is reasonable taking into account the suffering we have endured so far," Andreas said. (*)