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Monday, July 29, 2013

49 nights in a tent, after low-cost flats start cracking


It all started with a terrifying noise, and then things started shaking.

"It wasn't an earthquake but I felt tremors. People were frightened and ran out of their homes. I remember finding that the pillars were cracking.

"We called the police and fire department, and when they arrived, they advised everyone to stay out," said a resident, K Ramadass.

And the residents - all former plantation workers who were relocated to Taman Permata Dengkil 14 years ago to make way for Putrajaya - complied.

NONEFor the past 49 nights, Ramadass and about 20 families have been living in makeshift tents near the flats, out of fear that their houses may collapse on top of them. 

"The Works Department and the Works Institute Malaysia (IKRAM) inspected and told us it can be inhabited in a short term. We asked for the findings in black and white, but they couldn't give that. 

"Many of the residents here are elderly. They are afraid to be alone in the flats when their children are out at work. So they all opted to stay in the tents," Ramadass said when contacted. 

Public toilets and plywood floors

The tents - made up of plywood, tarp and carpets - are the bedroom, family room and kitchen come rain or shine for the residents who have nowhere else to go.

NONERamadass said those whose elderly parents could not bear sleeping on the plywood any longer have opted to rent rooms in terrace houses nearby - for RM450 month.

"We use the public toilet here for showering. Some go back to their flats to shower, but they just rush in and out as they're afraid," he said, adding that their belongings were now stored with friends and relatives.

Their fears, he said, were justified as in some parts of the flats, "bricks are falling" and in many units, cracks on the walls expose bent steel.

For the most part, their plight has not fallen completely on deaf ears.

Since the June 11 incident, they have received several visits from Selangor exco member V Ganabatirau, Sepang parliamentarian Hanipa Maidin, Dengkil assemblyperson Sharum Mohd Sharif and representatives from government agencies. 

"At first, Shahrum said he was told the building is safe. We then asked him to go in himself, and when he went to the first floor, it started shaking and he got scared and got out of the building," Ramadass said.

NONELast week, he said, Housing Ministry officers visited and claimed they were waiting for the Selangor government to respond to the ministry's letter on the issue.

"They wouldn't show us the letter, so we will go to the Housing Ministry tomorrow to ask to see a copy of the letter," he said.

"But we'll need to discuss tonight if we'll bring the whole community. We don't believe in verbal promises anymore. We need to see things in black and white."

Federal-state cooperation needed

Ramdass said they were now insisting on seeing everything on paper as the deal to provide them with housing 14 years ago was done completely verbally. 

"We are not educated people, so we just believed everything they said. We were told that this flat is only temporary, that we would later be moved to single-storey units.

"We paid RM20,000, some in cash, using the RM9,000 compensation we received and Employees Provident Fund money, while others, like me, took bank loans," he said.

NONEFourteen years and 49 days on, the solution to the woes of the Taman Permata Dengkil residents may be on the horizon, but it will require the federal and state govermments to work hand-in-hand.

On July 13, the Selangor govermment mouthpiece Selangorku reported that the state government has allocated 30 acres of land to build single-storey houses promised when the residents moved out to make way for the new federal administrative capital.

"Previously, we allocated 18 acres of land but the ministry rejected the offer as it claimed in its letter on July 7 that it was not enough to build 400 terrace houses. 

"Therefore, we have made the decision to provide a larger piece of land and I hope the ministry is serious about developing that land," Ganabatirau is quoted by Selangorku as saying.

Will the ministry fulfil the promise made more than a decade ago?

"Tomorrow will be the 50th night we spend in the tent. We will see what the ministry has to say," Ramadass said.

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