Farmers in Selangor who carry out open burning will have land seized, chief minister warns

KLANG — The Selangor government will confiscate land on which farmers are found to be carrying out open burning.

Chief Minister Amirudin Shari said the stern action is necessary as some farmers in the state – especially in Johan Setia, which is hard hit by the current haze – are still setting fires despite a prohibition order.

He said the errant farmers are getting away with their activities as they are carrying out open burning at night, or early in the morning – hence, there have been no arrests so far.

“When we (visited land where there were fires), the land owners were not there and we didn’t know their whereabouts.

“(And we had) to put out the fires (first), before looking for those responsible for (setting them),” Mr Amirudin told Bernama on Monday (Sept 16).

“Open burning for carrying out agricultural activities has, to some extent, worsened the haze situation hitting the country now.

“However, we will ensure that confiscation (of such land) is done according to set procedures and processes, as it’s not easy to seize land, (some of which are) leased out or encroached upon for growing vegetables,” he added.

As of 2pm Monday, the Air Pollutant Index (API) for Johan Setia was a “very unhealthy” 204; for Klang, 105; and for Banting, 155.

API readings of 0 to 50 are considered good, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy), and 301 and above (hazardous).  NEW STRAITS TIMES