The public can now report hill clearing incidents on Penang Island through a new interactive website launched by NGO coalition Penang Forum.

Dubbed the ‘Penang Hill Watch’, the website was designed to collate and map hill clearing activities and share these with the state government.

“The idea is to provide a comprehensive picture of the scale and extent of such activities, to involve the public in reporting such incidents, enhance awareness of such cases and share such information with the state government,” Penang Forum member Kam Suan Pheng said during the launch of the website yesterday.

According to another Penang Forum member, Rexy Prakash Chacko, contributors simply need to send photographs of these incidents to +6011-5127-4277 through WhatsApp.

“With the location setting turned on, the observers can also send the GPS coordinates of the affected sites. Alternatively, they can send the same information to pghillswatch@gmail.com or through our Facebook account,” Chacko said.

He gave his assurance that the reports filed would be verified by Penang Hill Watch volunteers before the information is entered into the online repository.

State executive councilor Chow Kon Yeow said his administration welcomed Penang Forum's efforts and contribution on hill clearing.

Chow said the new website would help the state government with its enforcement work.

The government did not feel slighted that NGOs were helping with monitoring work as all citizens had a role to play in this, he added.