GEORGE TOWN, July 6 – CAP regrets the problem of residents failing to be addressed by the government The Penang Consumers Association (CAP) regrets that the problems caused by logging activities and the durian musang king project in Gunung Inas Baling failed to be addressed by the government until now until the mud floods yesterday.
Before this problem occurred, CAP had several times urged the Kedah government, Forest Department and Baling District Office to take action to overcome the problem but was very disappointed with the latest incident which caused tens of thousands of residents in 11 villages to accept the consequences.
In the incident, not only the whole village was affected by the problem but also several houses were destroyed by heavy water from the mountain. A previous CAP survey found that the affected residents not only had to use water supply contaminated with mud from Gunung Inas but also affected their source of income as many agricultural lands in their villages could not be cultivated due to the threat of mud.
In this regard, CAP urges the state government to take immediate and effective action so that the incident does not recur. Apart from helping the victims involved in this problem rebuild their houses and pay compensation commensurate with the losses suffered due to property destruction, CAP also asked the government to restore the endangered agricultural land as it is the main source of income for the residents here.
CAP believes and is worried that if there is no effective action taken by the government, the people involved will always be in fear, especially during the rainy season because it is feared that similar problems may recur. Therefore, CAP asks the Kedah government to take immediate action to overcome this problem.
