Villagers stage protest to demand land compensation from PLN
Thursday, January 24 2002 - 02:58 AM WIB
Some 300 villagers from the Aranio district, Banjar regency, South Kalimantan, staged a peaceful demonstration at the local legislative council to demand compensation for their land drowned during the development of the Riam Kanan hydropower plant in the 1970s, the local Banjarmasin Post daily reported Thursday.
The protesting villagers said on Wednesday that if the compensation was not given, they would take over the local assets of the state electricity company PLN.
Some 108 million square meter of villagers land was drowned during the development of the power plant. Demand for compensation by the villagers in the past had been nearly impossible during the authoritarian rule of former president Soeharto.
The villagers called for the support of the local lawmakers to obtain the compensation from the central government or PLN.(*)