Bandar Botanic Layout Plan

Bandar Botanic Layout Plan

Friday 22 October 2010

BBRAeNEWS No.368 - Once again, the same culprits

Dear Residents,

It saddens us to read about news regarding open burning within our area. Yet, each time it happens, nothing is done by the local authorities to curb the problem.

In case you're wondering what caused the thick smoke last week in Bandar Botanic and its surrounding vicinity, please read the news report below which is a copy of today's Star.

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Thick smoke blankets Klang skies due to slash-and-burn method

Story and photos by EDWARD R. HENRY
edward@thestar.com.my

THICK smoke from a fire near Bandar Puteri, off the Kesas highway, blanketed the housing area and parts of Kota Kemuning and Bandar Botanic last week.

The fire was started by a farmer who had felled and burned the trees to plant vegetables.
Firemen had to dig trenches to prevent the fire spreading.

Several hectares of forest were destroyed in the fire and the peat soil is still smouldering and workers were busy clearing the land with an excavator.

Bandar Puteri resident S. Chandra, 30, said many people experienced breathing difficulty, chest pain and shortness of breath.

Still smoking: Chandra looking at the extent of devastation caused by the fire.
 
“Even until now residents are still going to clinics a week after the fire,” he said.

“People did not know whether to remain indoors or go out of their houses. The Department of Environ-ment (DoE) did not nab the culprits who caused the fire,” said the electrical engineer.

“The Department of Environment (DoE) should monitor the land to deter farmers from burning the vegetation again.

He said despite sending letters to the DoE, the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB), Klang Municipal Council (MPK) and the State Health Department nothing had been done to resolve the problem.

Chandra only received a letter from PCB officer Nur Ikram Aziz dated Oct 18, requesting more information on the specific location of the open burning but nothing was done to solve the problem.

Total wipeout: Shrubs and branches are all that is left after the burning.
 
Raja Ahmad Raja Duraa said DoE and MPK’s environment unit must cordon off the area to prevent people from going in.

“Our children are not well due to the smoke and we have incurred medical bills for this bad state of the environment,” the accountant said.

Mechanic Cheng Ho, 45, said this was not the first time thick smoke that enveloped the area.

“We have been having this problem for sometime and blamed the lack of enforcement for the open burning.

A doctor with a private clinic said he had seen an increase in the number of patients from Bandar Puteri and Bandar Botanic with respiratory problems.

DoE director Che Asmah Ibrahim said the owner had rented out the land to a farmer who resorted to the slash-and-burn method.

“Our initial investigation revealed that the farmer had planned to grow pineapples,” she said.

Che Asmah added that the culprit had been identified and action would be taken once the investigation papers were completed.

“There are still pockets of smouldering peat earth,” she said.