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Risma to sue Unilever for damaging Taman Bungkul
Tri Rismaharini
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Tri Rismaharini. JP/Ricky Yudhistira
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini has threatened to sue PT Unilever Indonesia, the holding company of Wall's ice cream, for damaging Taman Bungkul park, one of the city's landmarks.
'I will take them to court and charge them with articles [under the environmental law] for damaging the environment,' Risma, as the mayor is fondly known, shouted at the park on Sunday.
The damage occurred on Sunday when Wall's held an event at the park, which once received an international award as the best public park in Asia in November 2013, and distributed free ice cream to visitors.
The mayor, who arrived at the park at about 10 a.m., was enraged after learning that many plants in the park were destroyed after being trampled by visitors trying to get free ice cream.
'You know how long it took to build the park. Do you?,' Risma said pointing at a group of the event's organizers.
Risma said the damage could have been avoided if the organizers of the event coordinated the distribution of the free ice cream.
'For New Year's Eve, we closed several roads for a car-free night. There were no issues because it was well organized,' she was quoted by tribunnews.com.
Separately, head of corporate communication at PT Unilever Indonesia Maria Dewantini Dwianto issued an apology on behalf of the company for the damage.
'We apologize for the damage to park and for the inconvenience it has caused to the people of Surabaya and Ibu mayor,' Maria was quoted as saying by detik.com on Sunday.
She said the company would take full responsibility for the damage to the park and the sidewalk along Jl. Darmo, Surabaya.
'We take full responsibility and will pay for the damage,' she added.
Maria said that the organizer had secured permits from related parties, such as the police and the city's environmental agency, to hold the event.
'The permit stated that the event should be conducted along Jl. Darmo since the event could not be held inside the park. But since there was such a large number of visitors, sections of the park were damaged,' Maria said.
