Forest Firms Deny Setting Flames
10/4/97
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Headline: Forest Firms Deny Setting Flames
Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 10/4/97
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
Forestry firms in fire-ravaged Indonesian province deny setting flames
JAKARTA, Oct 4 (AFP) - Fifty-one timber companies operating in
the western Indonesian province of Riau, one of the areas worst hit
by widespread fires, have denied charges they set forests there
ablaze, a report said Saturday.
Many of the fires in Riau, on the island of Sumatra, had been
put out with the help of hundreds of Malaysian firefighters sent
across the Malacca Strait to help relieve the southeast Asian region
of poisonous smog.
The official Antara news agency said at least 51 of 83 Riau
companies suspected of starting forest fires have issued denials.
The government had given until October 2 for 176 companies
throughout the country to disprove charges they were burning forests
and grounds to clear their lands for replanting.
Only 65 of the companies submitted appropriate reports by the
deadline and the forestry ministry announced Friday it was revoking
the timber utilization permits of 29 companies who failed to
disprove allegations.
Press reports said 13 of the companies which lost licenses are
based in Riau.
Forestry official Darminto Sutono said the provincial
administration has dispatched 20 teams to check other plantation to
determine "whether or not these companies had practised the
slash-and-burn method."
Forest fires have hit 9,400 hectares (23,218 acres) of
plantations in Riau, Antara said.
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