REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BALIKPAPAN -- President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has ordered his ministers to control mining work, particularly in small mining areas in the region.
"I have ordered the Environment Minister and the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister to control small-scale miners, who do not pay attention to the safety of their workers," President Jokowi said here on Thursday.
The President issued the instruction after learning of the frequent accidents that are claiming the lives of people in ex-mining locations, which leave big holes or craters.
Recently, two workers were killed in a crater at an ex- mining site that belonged to PT Bukit Baiduri Energi (BBE), in Bukit Raya Village, Tenggarong Seberang, Kutai Kertanegara District, East Kalimantan.
The victims were identified as Diki Adiya Pratama (15) and Noval Fajar Slamat Riyadi (15), both secondary school students. They reportedly drowned in the water of the ex-coal mining crater.
Over the past five years, ex-coal mining wallows have claimed the lives of at least 20 victims in three locations in Samarinda, Kutai Kertanegara district and Penajam Paser Utara district, East Kalimatan.
President Jokowi said the permits given to companies to carry out mining must be accompanied with tight control in its implementation in the field.
"The permits should not be merely issued without control in the field," the President said.
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