Thursday July 20, 2006
Selangor DOE loses open burning cases in court
SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Department of Environment (DOE) was dealt a blow when all the 22 cases of open burning brought to the courts were given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.
“Most of them were because of land title problems. Ownership could not be proved because the parcels of land where the fires started had not been given individual titles yet,” said Selangor DOE director Che Asmah Ibrahim yesterday.
She said the department had sought the cooperation of land offices to trace the owners and check on the status of titles, especially in such hot spots as the farming lands of Kampung Johan Setia in Klang and Sungai Belangkan in Sepang.
These areas are a major annual headache for Selangor DOE because farmers, without fail, take advantage of the hot season to conduct open burning to fertilise the soil.
Although enforcement has become more stringent, farmers there still conduct open burning.
Che Asmah said she was pleased to learn that land in Johan Setia had been allocated individual titles.
“Under our environment laws, we can take action against land owners for allowing fires to start on their properties regardless of who the culprits are,” she said when announcing the integrated operations to detect open burning.
The agencies involved are police, the Fire and Rescue Department, Agriculture Department, local councils and Rela.
Meanwhile, the API reading for Port Klang and Kuala Selangor briefly touched the unhealthy level of 100 at 11am yesterday.
The Selangor DOE can be reached at 03-551 97233 (until 9pm) and the toll-free number 1-800-88-2727 (until midnight).
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