REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- About 10,502 hectares of land across various districts in Riau province were burnt during the last four weeks, causing thick haze over the area and disturbing daily life there, local Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) stated.

"The area which has the most burned land is Bengkalis district with 4,518 hectares, followed by Meranti Island with 3,498 hectares and Dumai city with 702 hectares," Chief of Special Forces handling haze Brigadier Prihadi Agus Irianto stated here on Tuesday.

According to him, there were chances for the land fire in Riau Province to get worse and hence, the local authority had planned to put down the fire through artificial rain and helicopter carrying water.

Meanwhile, Chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Syamsur Maarif stated earlier that some 99 percent of forest and plantation fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan were deliberately set.

"There should be sanctions to stop recurrences. Slash-and-burn farming methods exist in Sumatra and Kalimantan, but the most important is that this should be controlled," Syamsul Maarif noted.

As part of law enforcement actions, the Indonesian police have named 23 suspects in Riau and 16 in Central Kalimantan for allegedly setting fires.

"There are several factors behind their decision to set fires in plantation and forest areas, such as economic, social and cultural factors," he explained.

The dry season in Sumatra and Kalimantan has triggered forest and plantation fires that produced haze. The haze has disturbed air transportation in the area and caused respiratory infections among thousands of local people.

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