KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — A factory was sealed during an ‘Ops Bau’ inspection conducted on 106 factories in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan following two incidents of odour pollution affecting water quality recently.
The Department of Environment (DoE) in a statement yesterday said it also issued 36 compounds and 17 directive notices on premises that failed to comply with the Environmental Quality Act 1974 during the operation.
“Ops Bau is being actively enforced, by conducting inspections on factories to identify, track, and to detain irresponsible perpetrators,” said DoE
The investigation was conducted shortly after the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant was closed in the first incident on December 21.
In the second case on December 25, the DoE conducted a joint investigation with the Negeri Sembilan Fire and Rescue Department shortly after receiving complaints on the discovery of scheduled waste disposed on the banks of Singai Belihoi, Mantin, Negeri Sembilan.
According to DoE, early action to clean the banks of the Sungai Belihoi have been put in place to prevent risks to Sungai Linggi, which is one of the main sources of raw water supply in Seremban.
“In a two-day cleaning operation beginning Wednesday, an estimated 50 metric tonnes of residual soil contaminated with scheduled waste was sent to Kualiti Alam Sdn Bhd for disposal,” according to the statement.
DoE said, cases investigated under Section 34B of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 upon conviction carries a maximum of five years’ jail and a fine of not more than RM500,000.
“The informer will be rewarded under Section 48B of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 for leading to the arrest of the perpetrator, and will also be protected under Section 50A of the same act,” said DoE.
— Bernama
