Pushing WPR's Proposal To Prevent Illegal Tin Mining, Acting Governor Will Invite All Regents and Mayors Of Bangka Belitung

Illegal tin mines in Babel Province. (Antara)

Bangka Belitung - The Acting Governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands (Babel), Ridwan Djamaluddin, said he would hold a meeting with regents and mayors in his region to speed up the proposal for the determination of the People's Mining Area (WPR) to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

According to Ridwan, the legality of community mining needs to be fought for to suppress illegal tin mining activities in Bangka Belitung.

"We will immediately gather the regents and mayors to speed up the WPR proposal so that people can legally mine tin," said Ridwan in Pangkalpinang, Babel, as quoted from Antara, Tuesday, September 27.

He said that the WPR proposal was also Babel's effort to minimize illegal mining activities that damage the environment, thereby suppressing victims of mining accidents that are detrimental to the state due to illegal mining.

"The distribution of damaged land due to illegal mining has reached 62,423 hectares, not to mention the victims of accidents due to mining without a permit and the potential loss to the state, both in the form of royalties and fixed fees," he said.

He claimed that the government never intended to cause trouble for the community, but wanted to seek a meeting point between the community's needs and regulations. One of them is through the acceleration of this WPR proposal.

"In the WPR proposal later, there are several technical requirements that must be met. For example, the requirements for a strategic environmental study requested by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry," he said.

He emphasized that he would not tolerate mining without this legality, because the damage caused by this mine was very large.

"I try to be fair, not only for the miners, but also for the farmers, fishermen and our children and grandchildren in the future," he concluded.