REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- Thick smokes still is blanketing part of Riau disrupting flight schedules from and to this provincial city of Pekanbaru.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics office (BMKG) said visibility in the smoke blanketed areas in the province range from 100 meters to 400 meters.
"The worst is in Dumai and Pelalawan, where visibility is around 100 meters," head of the regional office of BMKG in Pekanbaru Sugarin told ANTARA news agency here on Tuesday.
In Pekanbaru the visibility is around 400 meters and in Kota Rengan of the regency of Indragiri Hulu it is meters, Sugarin said.
He said the smokes came from neighboring province of Jambi, adding, there was no hot spot detected in Riau.
In Jambi and South Sumatra there are tens of hot spots sending thick smokes to the air and were blown by the winds to Riau.
Riau has been widely reported to be the sources of thick smokes polluting the air as far as the neighboring countries.
Jefry Noer, regent of Kampar in Riau, said the black haze of smokes came from peat land not from forests.
"The smokes come not from forest fires but from certain fires in peat lands owned by farmers and companies," Jefry said.
Meanwhile, General Manager of the airport of the Sultan Syarif Kasim II Pekanbaru Dani Irawan a number of flights have been delayed on Tuesday.
The condition, however, improved toward mid of the day allowing airlines to resume flight including to Jakarta, Dani said.
"All airlines have to reschedule flights in the day. Citilink, Garuda Indonesia and Air Asia resumed flight in the middle of the day," he said.
From 2 to 7 September or for six days Citilink canceled 58 flights from the International Airport of Sultan Syarif Kasim II in four routes Pekanbaru-Jakarta, Pekanbaru-Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru-Batam and Pekanbaru-Surabaya.
In West Kalimantan, police in Ketapang are investigating reports against local community and company owners charged with setting forest on fire.
Ketapang police chief Adj. Sr. Comr Hady Poerwanto said the suspects are facing 10 years in jail with a fine of Rp1 billion if found guilty.
The heavy punishment is expected to serve as a deterrent against committing forest fires, Hady said.
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