Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered a crackdown against individuals and companies responsible for forest fires that have caused a dangerous haze in parts of South-east Asia, disrupting air travel and forcing the closure of schools.
Jokowi, as Mr Joko is commonly known, held a limited Cabinet meeting in Pekanbaru in Riau, one of the worst affected areas, late on Monday (Sept 16) to review steps to fight the fires, his office said in a statement.
The President directed the disaster mitigation agency to expand the scope of artificial rain and add more troops and firefighters.
Stinging smoke from illegal burning to clear land for palm oil and paper plantations has covered western and central regions of Indonesia and parts of Malaysia, with thousands of people reporting acute respiratory illness.
The raging hot spots have revived fears of a repeat of 2015, when a total of 2.6 million hectares of land was affected, costing Indonesia 221 trillion rupiah (S$21.61 billion) in economic losses.
The total number of hot spots in Indonesia rose to 2,984 on Tuesday from 2,583 on Monday, with the Indonesian part of the Borneo island accounting for almost 1,000 fires. The hot spots have affected 328,724 hectares of forest and farm land this year, data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency shows.
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