The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah is upset by the water disruptions in seven regions around the Klang Valley which affected 1.2 million accounts and about five million consumers.
He is calling on the authorities, especially the Environment and Water Ministry through the Department of Environment, to enhance monitoring and law enforcement to ensure that such river pollution cases are stopped and do not recur.
“The pollution of Sungai Gong is an irresponsible act because it is a case of repeated and burdensome pollution and has harmed millions of people in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor,” Al-Sultan Abdullah said in a statement today issued by Istana Negara.
“The harm caused by this irresponsible act was not only to the daily life of the people but also to the socio-economy of the people because many businesses had to close due to this unscheduled water supply disruption.”
Al-Sultan Abdullah said the suspected parties should be brought to justice and if found guilty, subjected to stern action and heavy punishment.
“It should be a lesson to all to ensure the sustainability of nature is protected and prevent further river pollution from affecting the lives and well-being of the people,” he added.
He also expressed his sympathy to the people who had to line up to get water every time there was a supply disruption.
Separately, Klang MP Charles Santiago has called on Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari to set up a task force to stop river pollution.
“The task force should comprise stakeholders to identify the gaps and table amendments to specific laws at the Selangor state assembly within the next 30 days. And raise regulatory matters with the Federal Government,” he said.
He added the task force is to identify and address existing approval, licensing and monitoring practices, silo approach of agencies, propose new regulations, rethink existing schedule waste management systems, strengthening oversight bodies and financial resources.
“Or we would be going back and forth shifting the blame on each other while the people continue to face water disruptions,” said Santiago.
“Water is a federal jurisdiction and the Department of Environment comes under the Ministry of Environment and Water.
“But Selangor should have been proactive by ensuring the Selangor Water Management Authority took on an effective enforcement and monitoring role since water disruptions are happening once too often.
“Amirudin should have asked for more budget, personnel and logistics to make sure such a task was possible.”
Santiago said although Amiruddin has said the owners of Yip Chee Seng & Sons Sdn Bhd/AAY Construction Sdn Bhd will be forced to vacate the land, that’s not enough.
Here’s the round-up of The News Normal today.
62 NEW COVID-19 CASES IN MALAYSIA
The Health Ministry reported 62 new Covid-19 cases today, bringing the total number of cases to 9,459.
Fifty of the new cases are from the Benteng cluster in Sabah while Sungai is the latest cluster in Kedah.
The death toll remains at 128.
WHERE’S THE RESERVES, ASKS FOMCA
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) president Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason says agencies and authorities involved in water regulation and distribution must undertake soul-searching over the latest incident involving Sungai Selangor.
He said the recent crisis reprised a fundamental concern, in that there was a need for sufficient water reserves should a water supply crisis strike again.
ROADS FROM KAJANG TOLL PLAZA TO KL WILL BE CLOSED
The Kajang toll plaza access road heading to Kuala Lumpur will be closed for a month from Wednesday until Oct 9, from 10pm-5am to facilitate tree-cutting and maintenance works.
Plus Malaysia Berhad advised motorists travelling from Kajang to Kuala Lumpur to use an alternative route via the Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway (Silk) and Besraya Highway.
The public can also use the Silk and Besraya highways to enter the Plus highway via the University Putra Malaysia (UPM) toll plaza during the period.
30 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NABBED
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Yaakob said the authorities arrested 30 illegal immigrants and four human traffickers during Ops Benteng yesterday.
He said police also seized 12 vehicles, believed to be used to transport illegal immigrants to various locations in the country.
SPORTS OFFICIALS HAVE TOO MANY PERKS
A major ill of Malaysian sports have always been the “policy” of officials first, everything else second.
It’s the same in the race to attend the Tokyo Olympics next year. Some are still harbouring hopes to attend the rescheduled event but none are willing to fork out their own money. They call it a “perk”.
