KLH Affirms Companies Must Be Responsible For Decontamination Cesium-137 Radioactive Cs-137

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Environment (KLH) emphasized that all companies in industrial areas affected by radioactive contamination of Cesium-137 in Cikande, Serang Regency, Banten are obliged to bear the costs of decontamination in accordance with the principle of Puluters pay principle or forgers pay.

Deputy for Environmental Law Enforcement, Ministry of Environment (KLH), Inspector General Rizal Irawan stated that the responsibility is absolute and regulated in Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management.

"In principle, the police pay principle. Who does pollution or pollution, he is responsible. There is a liquid responsibility there, an absolute responsibility regulated in the law," he said in Serang, Friday, was confiscated by Antara.

He emphasized that the decontamination financing is not a donation or responsibility of the state. "Don't get me wrong, this is not a donation. Anyone who does pollution, he must be responsible," said Rizal.

According to him, companies in contaminated areas have been ordered to decontaminate independently.

They are ordered to carry out their respective decontaminations and the costs are those who pay for themselves. So, nothing to us, please be independent," he said.

Rizal explained that although the implementation in the field involved technical teams, such as Gugana, Nubika TNI, Bapeten, and BRIN, financing all materials and equipment remains an obligation of the industry.

"They provide their own equipment, because it uses special ingredients that are not cheap. It's not the responsibility of the state," he said.

He distinguishes the responsibility between the industry and the affected residents. For the community, that is the responsibility of the state. But, in the factory area, it is the company that is obliged to bear according to the principle of the police pay," he said.

Rizal emphasized that the results of the crime scene (TKP) showed strong indications that the source of the contamination came from PT PMT.

Other factories are not the cause, different from PMT. At PMT we found the source in the process furnace and the raw material area. There are strong indications of the cause of the contamination coming from there," he said.

Meanwhile, other companies such as PT Jongka Indonesia are referred to as victims of the spread of contamination. "PT Jongka includes victims," said Rizal.

Regarding the alleged import raw material as a source of contamination, he said that temporary data showed metals came from within the country. "From our data, PMT does not import. The materials used come from within the country," he said.

Rizal added that the National Police through Bareskrim are still investigating the origin of the contaminated metal material. "About imports or the origin of metal, Bareskrim will explain. The process is still ongoing, just be patient," he said.

In addition to technical handling in industrial areas, KLH together with BRIN also mapped the red zone and yellow zone around affected areas.

"Each zone of treatment is different. Now it's still in the red zone, there are 22 families who are advised to relocate and they are ready," said Rizal.

He explained that the red and yellow zones are not determined based on a single radius, but at points with findings of active contamination. There are several red zone points and yellow zones. The radii are different, because there are about three points that we find," he said.

Rizal emphasized that the government will continue to ensure that the decontamination process runs according to environmental legal procedures and does not burden state finances.

Pollution in industrial areas is the responsibility of the industry. The principle is simple, who pollutes, who cleans," he said.