City Hall puts end to homeowner’s encroachment in Taman Century
Published on: Thursday, November 11, 2021
By: Sidney Skinner
.jpg "City Hall puts end to homeowner’s encroachment in Taman Century")
City Hall workers put their backs into removing the garden waste from this part of the State Capital.
A Taman Century home-owner has been asked to remove the structures he/she has placed on the reserve land outside his/her fence as these items make it difficult for City Hall workers to clean the drain and cut the grass there.A spokesman for the agency’s Landscaping Department (LD) said its staff noticed that the individual had encroached onto this government land during an inspection at the end of October.
ADVERTISEMENT
“They found some overgrown greenery growing inside a make-shift planter-box had been built on this property, with bits of building material including some tiles lined up against the ‘box’,” he said.
City Hall staff taking a closer look at the unkempt greenery outside this back fence in Taman Century.
“The rate-payer was instructed to vacate this land and to refrain from using it as his/her private garden in future.”
He said the individual sought the assistance of LD staff to have the plants uprooted and this was done ten days later.
ADVERTISEMENT
The spokesman said the drain was cleared on a quarterly basis while the grass in the reserve was trimmed once a month.
ADELINUS of Luyang bemoaned the nuisance created by the greenery, including palm and lime trees, growing on the reserve behind his house on Lorong Semangkuk.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The trees have not been trimmed in a long time,” he said.
“They are so overgrown that I have to walk around the tangle of branches just to access the land outside my fence.”
He said, at one stage, he saw his neighbour placing fertiliser at the base of these plants and appealed to her to prune this greenery.
Adelinus said his pleas had, so far, fallen on deaf ears.
The homeowner was asked to remove belongings, including the tiles and building materials from the reserve land.
“The area has become so unkempt that I fear unscrupulous parties might take advantage of the situation to peep inside my house and stage a break-in.
“Several homes along my housing road have already been burgled over the past few months.”
Adelinus made City Hall aware in March about what was transpiring at the back of his house.
He contacted the agency in September and was dismayed to find that his grievance had yet to be addressed.
The situation had become worse in the intervening months, according to him.
On top of letting her garden grow wild, Adelinus said his neighbour had even placed tiles in some places on the reserve.
“The glaze on the tiles makes them slippery. Anyone stepping on them could easily slip and fall, especially if they are wet.” He wondered how the common drain in this area was being cleaned under these circumstances.
Adelinus feared that the improper maintenance of this structure might lead to anyone living in the vicinity getting dengue.
“Any blockages will cause the water in the drain to stagnate. Aedes mosquitoes would very likely begin breeding here.”
The spokesman said the relevant section had been apprised of these observations regarding the “illegal structures” occupying the reserve.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Building Control Department said its staff were in the process of investigating this encroachment.
“In July, we received a report about illegal structures occupying some of reserves in the neighbourhood, as well as homes being extended into this property,” he said.
“We were made to understand that in one case a shed-like structure had been built in front of one house, possibly to keep the dustbins for the premises.”
When asked about the nine-month delay in verifying this claim, he declined to comment.
“Those found to be illegally occupying the government land around their units, either with their renovations or by placing objects on the reserve, will be notified to remove these structures.
The tree which toppled into this main road, was cut into more manageable pieces and left beside the eatery.
“Legal action could be taken against them if the encroachment persists.”
Meanwhile, LD staff have removed the remnants of a tree from common area outside an eatery in the City, a week after this greenery fell.
The LD spokesman said its workers were informed that a tree had toppled onto the main road near the cafe, during some strong winds on a recent Tuesday afternoon.
“A group of workers went to the area around 7pm that same day,” he said.
“They moved the tree to the space in front of the premises and chopped it down into a more manageable pieces.”
He said a pile of this garden waste was left in the common area between the café and adjacent building.
“Our staff returned with an open truck on the following Monday afternoon after being contacted by the media.
“No such vehicle was available when the tree first fell, otherwise this waste would have been transported away on the spot.”
LAINEE, the cafe operator, expressed her concern about the fire hazards posed by the pile of dried trimmings.
She said this debris had become a source of discomfort to her and the other proprietors at the shophouse where the eatery was located.
“The garden waste has been there for so long that it has turned from green to brown,” she said.
“If a cigarette stub, which has not been properly extinguished, were to come in contact with this kindling, then all our shops could be set ablaze.”
Lainee provided Hotline with the location of the cuttings which was forwarded to City Hall.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
