PASIR MAS: People who conduct open burning in the state will not yet be subject to hefty fines under the newly amended Environment Quality Act 1974.
State Environment director Wan Aminordin Wan Kamaruddin said the department is focusing on educating the people first.
The amendment to the Environment Quality Act, gazetted in June, set the minimum and maximum fines for open burning at RM25,000 and RM1 million, respectively.
An offender may also be imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years.
Wan Aminordin said nine landowners were fined RM2,000 each between January and this month for open burning.
He said they are mostly from Pasir Mas.
He did not say how many of them committed the offence after the legislative amendment took effect in July.
"We punished them using the old act as we still educating the public about the new penalty," he at the launch of the state-level National Environment Day celebration here today.
Wan Aminordin also said 234 operations were carried out by the department this year.
Open burning in villages topped the list of offences that were uncovered, he added.