BY PLOTU JAMES
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This is the only source of water for the villagers - muddy water from thenewly-dug welL
KOTA
KINABALU:
The water Department has denied there is a shortage of water in
the Matunggong area.
Rather, the villagers cannot afford to pay the connection costs and deposit, thus they do not enjoy supply of treated water.
This shocking revelation was made by Datuk
Teo Chee Kang, the Minister of Special Tasks in Sabah Chief Minister’s
Department when responding to a report in kinabalutoday.com with regard to
an alleged water crisis in Matunggong.
Nevertheless, the Tanjong Kapor state
assemblyman said he has been in touch with the Kudat Natural Disaster
Management Committee to immediately send water to the affected villages.
"This committee will render assistance
to the villagers who are in need," Teo said in a short whatsapp reply to
our reporter who had forwarded him the report.
On the inability of the villagers to have the
water meters installed, Teo who is also the president of Liberal
Democratic Party, said it will be looked into as well.
On Sunday, kinabalutoday.com carried a cry
for help by PBS Matunggong deputy division leader Leberi Francis
Maraim who posted in facebook the plight of his fellow villagers.
The villagers at Kampung Buranak, Panudahan,
Marimbou, Rita, Koniung, Komburongo and Muhang are surving on
muddy water due to a prolonged drought.
Their usual sources of
water - wells and the river - have dried up.
In one of his postings, Francis remarked:
"This is our only source of water. Hope our plight and suffering will
end soon" - with photographs of some women taking muddied water out
of a shallow hole.
Francis called on the respective elected
representatives to help resolve the ongoing water crisis. Apparently, it
has not been raining for the past three months.
Matunggong Assemblyman Dato Jelani Hamdan
sprung into action and fingered the blame on deputy Chief Minister, Tan
Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
He said Pairin, who is also Infrastructure
Development Minister was not doing a good job and had even failed to
respond to his queries at the recent State Assembly sitting.
Fed up with the situation,
Jelani warned: "I am giving him (Pairin) until next week.
Keeping silent is
definitely not an option.”
Jelani won the Matunggong state seat on a PKR
ticket but swtiched his alliance to become BN-friendly soon after.
But this is not the only area facing this
problem. It is understood that villagers in Paitan are also severely
affected by the drought and have to resort to buying 'expensive' bottled
water for their everyday needs. POSTED
BY KINABALU TODAY
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