REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, S SULAWESI -- The government will propose a life insurance assistance for 1.2 million holders of Welfare Family Card (KKS) affected by thick smoke from hundreds of forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

"We have communicated with the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) regarding a life insurance assistance for the affected people. It is possible for them to get a life insurance assistance," Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said here on Sunday.

According to Parawansa, the haze disaster caused by forest and land fires had disrupted the income of the affected people.

"The Social Service Ministry has calculated the number of the affected people. Nearly 25 percent or 1.2 million of the poor people in six provinces currently hold Welfare Family Card (KKS)," she said.

"The plan is being discussed by the Directorate General of Budget, Ministry of Finance," she said.

Based on the proposal, she noted, every person will receive a grant of Rp10,000 for 90 days.

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), tens of thousands of Indonesians have been treated for upper tract respiratory infection caused by thick smoke.

The National Police Headquarters is currently handling 236 cases of forest and plantation fires in the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

"Up till October 2, 2015, the National Police have handled 236 reports of forest and plantation arson," Head of the National Police's Crime Investigation Department (Bareskrim) Commissioner General Anang Iskandar, said here, Saturday.

The cases involve 190 individuals and 46 companies including two foreign corporations.

The police have also named 216 suspects in those cases.

"Of the 216 suspects, 205 are individuals, and 11 are connected to corporations," he stated.

Further, he explained that of the 216 suspects, only 72 have been detained. They comprise 67 individuals and five suspects representing corporations.

Of the total, four cases are handled by Bareskrimhas, 34 cases by the South Sumatra provincial police, 68 cases by the Riau provincial police, 20 cases by the Jambi provincial police, 61 cases by the Central Kalimantan provincial police, 29 cases by the West Kalimantan provincial police, 9 cases by the South Kalimantan provincial police and 11 cases by the East Kalimantan provincial police 11.

The two foreign companies being investigated are PT ASP of China, which is being handled by the Central Kalimantan provincial police, and PT KAL of Australia, which is being handled by the West Kalimantan provincial police.

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