THE incessant water cuts in the Klang Valley are fast becoming a “bad habit” that needs to be addressed with haste.
“It’s becoming a bad routine. Both the Federal and state Government must get its act together and resolve this.
“Water is a basic necessity and it’s too important to get politicised,” Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) chief executive officer Paul Selvaraj told FocusM.
Yesterday, Klang Valley folks were treated to another water disruption after its pipes in Damansara Utama burst due to a landslide at the area.
The latest water disruption affected 43 locations in Petaling and 20 locations in Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier today, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd’s (Air Selangor) corporate communications head Elina Baseri said 67% of the pipes have been restored as of 8pm last night.
Upset with the latest incident, a message has been going around on Whatsapp reading: “Thanks to Air Selangor, it’s gonna be a dry New Year’s Eve. An apt end to a horrible 2020.
“May the happiness, joy and celebrations flow freely in 2021,” it added.
Class action suit vs dialogue
In October, former chairman of the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) Charles Santiago urged the Government to set up the National River Protection Agency to address water problems in the Klang Valley.
Elaborating on the constant water cuts, Selavaraj said both the federal and state Governments should have an eye-to eye meeting and come up with concrete solutions to the matter.
“They need to come up with short-term and long-term solutions on how to resolve this.
“Among the issues they should iron out are how to protect our water catchment areas and fix our old pipes, without causing disruption to the water supply,” he opined.
On what legal remedies consumers can use at the juncture, Selvaraj said that the public has the option of filing a class action suit but called for dialogue instead.
‘We do have provisions for a class action suit but not everyone can participate in it. However, I would prefer engaging the authorities to find an amicable solution,” he added. – Dec 31, 2020.
