Banjarbaru govt ready to switch diamond panners into duck farmers

Banjarbaru, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Banjarbaru City Government is ready to divert diamond panners job to prevent further casualties from being buried in diamond pits in Pumpung Village, Cempaka Sub-district, Banjarbaru.


"The solution is to divert their work, so they have other jobs as daily income instead of working for diamonds," said Mayor Nadjmi Adhani on Tuesday.

Mayor made his remark regarding the diamond mining collapse disaster in the Pumpung area which caused five fatalities on Monday (8/4).

According to the mayor, his party is ready to divert the job of hundreds of diamond miners through the Agriculture Office program with a budget prepared in 2020.

"The program has been prepared from the Agriculture Agency, namely the provision of 50 ducklings for one family of diamond panner," said the mayor accompanied by Vice Mayor Darmawan Jaya.

He said, in addition to giving duck seeds, they were also assisted with funds to make cages, including medicines for the livestock.

"The shared duck seeds are also ready to lay eggs in the not too distant future, so they can switch jobs to duck farmers that can provide income in a short time," he said.

The program supported by the Ministry of Agriculture received a positive response from the panning community. They could accept it as their living to switch from endanger life-threatening work.

"Positive response of panners, especially we all know, they do panning to gain income because there is no work. If there is already a job, of course they want to divert, especially if there is no risk of casualties," he said.