Camerons dam debacle: VICTIMS TO SUE TNB

CAMERON HIGHLANDS - Kampung Baru Bertam Valley villagers plan to file a class-action suit against Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) over the mud flood that hit the village on Oct 23.

Their lawyer M. Manogaran said that they held the power giant responsible for the disaster which occurred in the wee hours of that fateful day.

Manogaran told theSun yesterday that villagers, who had lodged more than 100 police reports to date, were doing so as they were not satisfied with the RM200,000 that TNB had allocated to the affected families and businesses.

He said he would be working with a committee set up by the villagers to study the possibility of legal action against TNB.

"It will take time to file a suit as we need to collect police reports, send a notice to TNB and also collect engineers' reports to support legal action," he said.

Manogaran, the former Teluk Intan MP who lost to Datuk Seri G. Palanivel in the race for the Cameron Highlands parliamentary seat, said he will be representing the villagers if the case goes to court.

"TNB is not serious in the matter as it allocated only RM200,000 in compensation to be shared among all victims," he said, adding that TNB should have set up a fact-finding task force to identify who was responsible for the catastrophe.

"They should carry out an investigation to find out what went wrong," said Manogaran, who was unable to specify the extent of damages suffered by the families and businesses, apart from saying that it could run into millions.

Meanwhile, Bar Council Human Rights Committee chairman Andrew Khoo said the affected villagers have locus standi to sue TNB for damages.

He said TNB is ultimately responsible for monitoring and maintaining the Sultan Abu Bakar hydroelectric dam reservoir from which water was released that day.

"The responsibility is on the part of TNB to monitor the catchment area (Ringlet Lake), since water from the dam was used to generate electricity," Khoo said.
Khoo said TNB cannot simply "wash its hands" of the matter by saying that it could not clear the reservoir of silt and rubbish fast enough.

Meanwhile, farmer Khor They Keng, 42, said it would cost her RM300,000 to replant her crops and repair farm fixtures.

The owner of a hydroponic plantation farm lost RM400,000 in vegetables, which were damaged as there was no electricity for three days after the tragedy.

"Who is going to repay us?" she asked.

Even small-time farmers lost at least RM65,000 in investments when the deluge washed away parts of land that they had prepared for the next batch of vegetables.

Tang Yi Moi, 63, whose farm was totally damaged, said a car that was washed away from the village got stuck at the bridge next to her farm, causing a massive overflow into her land.

Tung Ming Weng, 31, who runs a sundry store, said she lost RM100,000 worth of goods as the water filled her shop in seconds.

Her shop, Syarikat Lian Hup Tung, which has been open for the past 60 years, suffered extensive damage.

"We had to dismantle the wooden floor panels to clear the mud that was underneath. We had sacks of rice that were soiled and had to be written off," she said.