KUCHING: All the relevant agencies must take stern action against open burning which is currently banned due to the poor Air Pollutant Index (API) reading recorded in many parts of the state.
This was agreed at the meeting of the State Disaster Relief Committee on Wednesday at Wisma Bapa Malaysia which was chaired by its chairman and Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu.
In a press statement yesterday, Jabu also advised all personnel from the relevant agencies and departments to work closely to ensure that the impact to the people caused by the dry weather would be minimised.
“I would like to urge all the drought and haze victims to be patient when coping with the current situation,” he said.
Recognising the efforts of the relevant agencies in responding to the crisis, Jabu however felt that more efforts needed to be done to reduce the suffering of the victims.
The statement pointed out that Department of Environment (DOE) had recorded 846 hotspots throughout the state as of June 26, with the highest number recorded at 437 a day.
Social Welfare Department had until June 26 provided aid to 43,267 drought victims from 7,069 families throughout the state. The department had also distributed a total of 1,887,267 litres of waters to the affected victims.
The wild fire near Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) Miri covered about 50 hectares of land.