DBKL demolishes Kg Railway houses

Three quarters of the houses in Kg Railway, Sentul, have been demolished by DBKL officers.

UPDATED

PETALING JAYA: The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) enforcement personnel demolished three quarters of the houses in Kampung Railway in Sentul today.

It is learnt that Batu MP Tian Chua is discussing with DBKL to stop the demolition and save the rest of the houses.

YTL Corporation Bhd, through its developer Sentul Raya Sdn Bhd (SRSB), had earlier planned to demolish about 50 houses in Kampung Railway on Sept 18, but was stopped by residents led by Tian Chua.

The developer had bought the land and had planned to build a high, medium and low-cost homes in the area.

YTL has been granted a court order to evacuate and relocate the families.

The developer had offered low-cost homes in Bukit Jalil but the families had refused the offer and wanted to be relocated near the Sentul area.

On Oct 1, about 25 residents of Kampung Railway held a peaceful demonstration outside the parliament building demanding to be relocated to a site nearby and not as planned by the developer in Bukit Jalil.

Meanwhile, one of the residents affected by the demolition, A Ganapathy said a YTL representative came to their house around 11am asking them to evacuate.

Ganapathy, then, negotiated asking for four days to evacuate and YTL representative agreed initially.

Around 5pm, the YTL representative and court bailiff instructed them to evacuate immediately.

The families protested but the court bailiff insisted that the demolition to be done today.

“We do not have any place to go and how are we going to shift within hours?

“So far we have not received our house keys and compensation,” said Ganapathy.

Batu MP Tian Chua who was at the scene said the demolition has been going on since morning and some families were informed later today to evacuate the place for demolition.

He also stated that around six people including a youth were arrested by the police and he was going to IPD Sentul to negotiate with the police officers to release those detained.

Federal Territories deputy minister Loga Balan, when contacted, said the City Hall had asked the settlers to evacuate the site at a meeting on Dec 5.

He also said around 120 families have obtained PPR flats in Bukit Jalil with a RM18,000 compensation each family.

Loga also added that there were around 30 families, who were adamant not wanting to receive the offer, but instead proceeded to take their case to the Federal Court. They subsequently lost the case.

He added that these 30 families were still given PPR flats on humanitarian grounds but some still want low cost houses in the nearby area to their existing homes and an added compensation package.

A total 63 houses have been demolished so far while three more would be flattened later in the night after settlers move out their belongings.