KUCHING: Companies and individuals have been warned not to extract timber illegally from the forest in Kampung Danu or stern action will be taken against them
“If there is evidence of anyone extracting timber illegally from forest in the area, the authority will not hesitate to take action against them,” Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan told reporters after viviting Bengoh Dam yesterday.
He said the authority was monitoring the situation and would act against any company or individual caught with the illegal consignments.
He said no licence had so far been issued to any company or individual to extract timber from the forest in Kampung Danu at Jalan Puncak Borneo, about 55km from here.
On Sept 21, residents of Kampung Semadang not far from Kampung Danu, staged a peaceful protest against the use of the yet-to-be-completed road connecting Semadang to Kampung Danu to get to the logging area. The road is constructed by Public Works Department.
The villagers were unhappy with the intrusion because the people of Semadang had voluntarily given away their NCR land for the construction of the road.
Two pieces of heavy machinery are said to have been sent to the forest through the road.
The road is expected to be completed by the end of the year, but the villagers fear that the road could be damaged by the heavy vehicles even before it is fully completed.
Also, the villagers were against any timber activities in their midst for safety and health reasons.
They fear the lives of the 680 people in the village would be harmed by timber trucks plying the road and by pollution if timber activities are allowed to go ahead.
Recently, Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil denied he was supporting the illegal logging and a proposed oil palm plantation in the forest area in Kampung Danu, as claimed by certain individuals.
Expressing surprise at the allegations against him, Dr Jerip was quoted by Bernama as saying: “I have nothing to do with the illegal logging. I don’t condone illegal activities like that.”
It is believed that the proposed oil palm plantation too has yet to receive any approval from the Land and Survey Department.