Pahang DOE issues stop work order on logging at Merapoh

KUANTAN: The Pahang Department of Environment (DOE) has issued a notice to stop logging activities in an area at Mukim Batu Yon in Merapoh, Kuala Lipis near here.
Its director, Rosli Zul said the notice was issued last Nov 15 to a private company which had obtained approval from the landowner to carry out the logging activities.
"We have given the company two weeks to stop work and to start rehabilitating the land ," he said when contacted here today.
Rosli said his officers would continue to monitor the area to ensure it is free of pollution and logging activities.
MEANWHILE, Pahang Mentri Besar Seri Adnan Yaakob today hit out at quarters for reporting the issue on logging in Merapoh when the situation had reach a critical stage.
He said elected representatives, non-governmental organisations and villagers should have raised the matter earlier and described as "insincere" the action by a certain NGO in waiting until the situation worsened to expose the matter.
"If it was sincere, it should inform us earlier, not when it is all damaged, then go to the newspapers," he said.
Adnan brought up the matter when he intervened during the winding up by State Basic Facilities and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Soffi Abdul Razak on logging issues in Merapoh at the State Legislative Assembly sitting today.
Logging in Merapoh became a hot issue at the end of last month after Save Merapoh Caves founder Mohd Laili Basir claimed that the logging activities had destroyed the environment and polluted a river which is a source of water for 10,000 residents in eight villages in the area. — Bernama