Lorry driver fined RM100,000 over 2019 pollution of Sg Kim Kim

A LORRY driver has been fined RM100,000 for polluting Sungai Kim Kim in 2019 with the illegal disposal of waste, in Pasir Gudang, Johor.

The Environment Department, (DOE) in a statement yesterday, said N. Maridass was found to have released oil sludge, a scheduled waste listed in the First Schedule of the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005, into the river.

It added that P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd was fined RM320,000 on eight charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014.

Maridass and P Tech Resources were tried together.

Johor Baru Sessions Court judge Datuk Che Wan Zaidi Che Wan Ibrahim handed down the sentence on November 30 after the accused pleaded guilty to the charges.

Toxic waste was dumped into Sungai Kim Kim on March 7, 2019, affecting the health of more than 2,000 people and causing 111 schools in Pasir Gudang to closed. Nearly 1,000 people exposed to the fumes were treated at the Sultan Ismail Hospital, nine of them in the intensive care unit.

"It is the responsibility of the industry players to ensure that environmental management, including toxic and hazardous waste management, air and water pollution control is carried out properly to prevent pollution that has the potential to pose a risk to the environment and the wellbeing of the community," the DOE said in the statement. – Bernama, December 1, 2023.