City Hall trims trees in Segama, warns house owner in Luyang
Published on: Thursday, December 29, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
The building material and piles of dry grass strewn all over the yard of this Luyang home are a potential fire and health hazard.
CITY Hall recently trimmed the overgrown trees growing in the middle of a road in the Segama area and has instructed the owner of a vacant Luyang house to attend to the unkempt greenery in his yard.The individual was also asked to tidy up his belongings and dispose of any which he did not want to ensure that Aedes mosquitoes did not begin breeding among these items.
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The agency was responding to feedback about a motorist whose windshield was damaged after a thick branch landed on his car, as well as the potential health and fire hazards posed by the mess inside the unoccupied residence.
A Landscaping Department staff attaches the notice to the front gate of the Luyang property.
A friend of the vehicle-owner and a Luyang rate-payer separately provided Hotline with the location where the branch fell and the empty house.
A City Hall spokesman said Landscaping Department personnel inspected the latter last week after being contacted by the media. “They found the yard in a state of disarray,” he said on December 29. “The grass had been cut some time before but the trimmings had not been removed and had since turned brown.
“There was also building material lying about here and there, including zinc sheets and empty buckets.”
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He said a notice was issued on the spot to alert the homeowner about the nuisance created by the poor condition of the compound.
“He was asked to deal with this mess as soon as possible and given a grace-period in which to do so.
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“Further action can be taken against him if he fails to comply.”
The spokesman said non-compliance could see the rate-payer being charged in court, under the Local Government Ordinance 1961 ((Amendment 2000).
“If found guilty, he risks having to settle a fine for as much as RM1, 000.
A sky-lift was deployed to this part of Segama to assist City Hall staff in trimming the canopy of the trees.
“Alternatively, he may also have to serve a maximum jail-term of up to six months for allowing his yard to become a potential nuisance to the public.”
Among the nuisances stipulated in section 49B of the ordinance are:
l any dust, effluvium, accumulation or deposit which is… likely to become a breeding place for mosquitoes or flies or any vermin.
l any tank, well, pool, gutter…which is… likely to become a breeding place for mosquitoes or flies or vermin.
l any place where there exists, or likely to exist, any condition giving rise, or capable of giving rise to the breeding of mosquitoes or flies.
KHARTOM, who lives in Luyang Phase 2, voiced her misgivings about the potential negative impact of the “warehouse” in the neighbourhood.
She said there were stacks of pipes leaned up against a wall of the house, with sacks and bits of wood lying in the compound. “Over the past few months, more and more items have been placed around the vacant house,” she said.
“Pools of water have collected on the surface or inside some of these items, which I suspect has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”
Khartom decried the activities of homeowner as endangering the wellbeing of the others living in the area.
“A stray spark is all it will take to set any of flammable items inside the compound on fire. She said this blaze could spread quickly to the other houses in the neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, the agency’s Tree Pruning Unit earlier dealt with several trees on the median between the General Post Office and Bank Negara Malaysia building in the City. The spokesman said seven of the Unit’s personnel trimmed the canopy at night, following a preliminary inspection carried out that same afternoon.
“Our sky-lift with an articulated arm was deployed to assist them in removing the dead branches which extended from several of the trees,” he said.
He said this machine could ascend to a height of about 12 metres.
LOI of Likas was under the impression that the trees on the divider had not been maintained in a long time.
“Some of the branches have grown so long that they hang down barely a few feet from the tops of vehicles below,” he said. Given the strong winds and heavy rains which the State has been experiencing off late, he feared that these branches might break at any time, endangering road users.
“A friend found a hole in his windshield when he returned to his car. It seems a heavy branch had snapped, while he was away, and landed on the glass.”
Loi hoped the relevant authority would to tend to the trees regularly before anything worse occurred and lives were lost.
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