Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak today defended the logging activities taking place in Baling forests saying water catchment areas were not affected.

He said the Kedah Forestry Department had made it a condition that the water catchment areas should not be affected in issuing logging concessions.

He told this to reporters after handing over land ownership titles to settlers of Felda Bukit Tangga in Jitra today.

He was responding to allegations by Kedah Umno chief Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah that the logging activities impacted water catchment areas.

Ahmad Bashah had made the claims at a press conference on Sunday.

On Friday, some 300 Umno Youth and Puteri Umno members from the Baling Umno division had staged a peaceful demonsration to protest the PAS-led Kedah's government move to allow the logging activities, claiming that waterways there had become polluted because of it.

On this, Azizan said tests carried out by the Kedah Drainage and Irrigation showed the claims were not true.

- Bernama