Pekanbaru, Riau, April 4 (Antarariau.com) - Chairman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Syamsul Maarif has announced the termination of haze emergency status in Riau Province.
Post-forest fire rehabilitation process has now become the responsibility of the Riau administration, Maarif, who was concurrently commander of the Task Force of Haze Mitigation Integrated Operation based at Roesmin Nurjadin air force base, stated here on Friday.
Maarif officially handed over the task to the deputy governor of Riau, Arsyadjuliandi Rahman.
Following the end of the status, around one thousand military personnel involved in the operation to put out forest fires in Riau, will return to their original bases.
The Task Force has been in operation for three weeks since March 14. Maarif thanked all military and police personnel who have helped extinguished the forest, plantation and peat-soil fires in Riau Province.
"We have experiences that the fires are due to human interference. It must not happen again in the future," he stressed.
In May 2014, BNPB will again deploy 2.5 thousand police and military personnel to anticipate forest fires because El Nino is predicted to induce drought in Indonesia.
Several helicopters were also used as standby in Riau to put out the remaining fires.
Deputy Governor Arsyadjuliandi Rahman explained that the Riau administration will set up a transitional task force until April 9, which will be followed by the establishment of rehabilitation task force.
Riau Police Chief Brigadier General Condro Kirono confirmed that the police are currently handling 67 cases of forest fires and have named 110 suspects for setting fires and forest encroachment and illegal logging activities.
One of the suspects is from PT National Sago Prima, a subsidiary of Sampoerna Agro Group.
