Selangor MB offers sarcastic praise on Paya Jaras situation

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari today sarcastically thanked those have raised the issue of the demolition of 30 houses in Paya Jaras, Sungai Buloh.

He said the state government had actually offered assistance to help deal with the displacement of people in the area, but there are "people playing politics on the issue." 

"We have offered the residents housing, we have offered to bear the cost of transfers and so on, and discussions have been conducted on this issue."

"But there are those who want to stir up some trouble. I thank you, please play politics, he said at a press conference at the Akademi Kepemimpinan Wanita Selangor in Shah Alam today.

"Because the issue involves large areas and localities, the area of Merbau Sempah and Paya Jaras, this area could be affected by floods if the project is not carried out in the future," he said in an audio recording shared with Malaysiakini.

It is understood that the state government needs to demolish houses in the village for the Kedondong River widening project in Paya Jaras Hilir to prevent the occurrence of flash floods.

Amiruddin is believed to have been referring to Sungai Buloh PAS chief Zaharudin Muhammad who today claimed that there was no strategy in handling the matter.

Zaharudin Muhammad also said the state government should at least have provided the residents with transit homes.

This comes after more than 30 homes in Kampung Kedondong in Paya Jaras were demolished yesterday to make way for a river widening and flood mitigation project.

The homes were built on Selangor government land but residents claim insufficient notice was given for them to move out.

Now homeless, many of those affected are now living under makeshift shelters made out of canopies and plastic sheets.

Kampung Kedondong taskforce chairperson Azroy Abdul Manaf said the temporary shelter where many were living in was built using materials donated by other residents.

Azroy said residents had met with Paya Jaras assemblyperson Mohd Khairuddin Othman and Sungai Buloh MP Sivarasa Rasiah to request for the demolition exercise to be postponed to December.

He said the main reason was not to disrupt the education of the children especially those sitting for the UPSR exam which began on Sept 4.

He said plans to demolish the homes begun in 2015 but were reportedly opposed by Mohd Khairuddin who was a PAS member then.

However, the plans were revived on Aug 5 this year and residents were given a 30-day notice to evacuate.

Amirudin said the project had been postponed several times since 2015 adding that the state government would have to fork out RM2 million for each postponement. - Mkini