Participants of a "Suhakam Dialogue With The People" held in Kota Darulnaim, here, voiced their frustration over this problem which has been affecting their daily lives, to Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam.
The three-hour session was attended by several non-governmental organisations, the police, government agencies and concerned individuals. Also present were Suhakam members, Prof Datuk Mahmood Zuhdi A. Majid and N. James.
Retiree Kamaruzaman Ismail said he had been staying in Kelantan for four years now and built his house here but Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd (AKSB) had failed to provide piped water to his house.
"AKSB has been telling me to be patient as it is replacing the old pipes with new ones...but the main problem is low water pressure for water to flow into my water tank.
"There seems to be no end to this problem," he lamented to the Suhakam panel.
Kamaruzaman said what was even more frustrating was that although he received no piped water supply for four years, he still received a bill of RM4 every month from AKSB.
He said he then decided to terminate the service by AKSB and resorted to obtaining underground water for his household's needs.
Kamaruzaman urged Suhakam to take their complaints seriously as besides failing to provide efficient clean water supply to residents, AKSB still imposed service charge on those who received no water supply from it.
"As there is no water, only air comes out of the pipes, with the water meters registering movement (consumption) and consumers are charged," he explained.
He also regretted the state government's failure to build drains in his housing area although after the housing plan had been approved by the Kota Baharu Municipal Council, additional allocation was requested for building the drains.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Kelantan chairman Zakaria Abdul Rahman admitted that the water supply problem had been plaguing the people for so long and yet the state government failed to resolve it.
"It is regrettable that the federal government has to help out by allocating RM19 million for channelling water supply to the critical areas while the responsibility should be the state government's," he said.
Abdul Halim Yusof, who represented the Kelantan Private Schools Association, raised the problem faced by pupils of private primary schools as they were not allowed to continue their schooling in government-run religious secondary schools.
Hasmy said Suhakam would bring up the issues raised today with the Kelantan government.- BERNAMA
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