SEREMBAN, April 6 — The Negeri Sembilan government will tighten enforcement on illegal dumping sites, especially involving gas pipeline areas in the state.

Local Government Development, Housing and Transport Action Committee chairman J Arul Kumar yesterday said this is following the incident of open burning of illegal waste in a high-risk area in Bukit Sendayan that occurred two days ago.

He said stricter enforcement action would be taken if his team detects irresponsible parties conducting illegal open burning activities in the area.

"I urge any party who has information on any activities of illegal dumping and open dumping of waste to immediately lodge reports with the relevant authorities.

"What happened in Sendayan is that irresponsible parties have burned garbage within a distance of about 50 metres and near a gas pipeline, which is very dangerous," he said in a statement.

The Nilai state assemblyman said that to address the issue, cooperation from all parties in reporting any encroachment activities in the pipeline areas around the state is very important, especially to relevant parties such as gas companies or local authorities to enable further action to be taken.

"I have asked SWCorp in Negeri Sembilan to clean up the affected area immediately, and also advised everyone to not litter indiscriminately or stricter action actions will be taken, especially along the gas pipeline route," he said.

Arul said the gas pipeline route has been around for decades and in this state, it mainly involves residential and industrial areas in the administrative regions of Seremban and Port Dickson.

“Each PBT (local authority) is informed that all residential and industrial areas under their supervision should conduct patrols more frequently. That action can detect any location of gas pipelines that have been tampered with more quickly, in addition to preventing any undesirable incidents from occurring," he also said.

Arul added that his team has also requested the gas company to fence up the gas pipeline route area as it is difficult to control due to individuals who like to trespass there. — Bernama