RAWANG, Nov 11 — Police have discovered 40 barrels of scheduled waste at a premise at Jalan Velox 2, Rawang, that is suspected to be related to the odour pollution in Sungai Selangor.
Gombak District Police chief ACP Arifai Tarawe said the 1,000-litre barrels were kept in the premises, which was rented at RM3,800 a month by a woman, aged 40, two weeks ago.
He said initial investigations found that there was scheduled waste dumped into the sewerage system in the premises that flowed into the Taman Velox Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) sewage treatment plant, located about 300 metres away.
“A team from the Department of Environment (DOE) and the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) managed to detect the odour and located the premises that were used to store the scheduled waste for disposal.
“We do not discount the possibility of sabotage in this incident and investigations are ongoing,” he told reporters after conducting an inspection at the premises together with other DOE and IWK personnel after it was shut down today.
He said the pollution case, which comes under the administration of the Gombak District Police Headquarters, was the fifth time that such an incident had occurred, with the action taken on all the four previous cases.
Today, Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Fadzil Ahmat said four individuals, including a woman, had been remanded for seven days until next Tuesday following the odour pollution incident in Sungai Selangor.
The woman rented the premises while a local man and his two workers, including a Bangladeshi, stored the chemicals in the said premises.
Fadzil said investigations would be conducted under Section 430 of the Penal Code for committing acts that caused water disruption to several areas in the Klang Valley.
Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) yesterday announced that the water treatment plants (LRAs) in Rantau Panjang and Sungai Selangor Phase (SSP) 1, 2 and 3 had ceased operations, causing an unscheduled water disruption involving 1,139,008 consumer accounts in 1,279 areas in the Klang Valley, following the odour pollution in Sungai Selangor.
Environment and Water Ministry Chief Secretary Datuk Seri Ir Dr Zaini Ujang was reported to have said that the pollution was believed to have come from the small and medium industry areas in Taman Velox, Rawang.
Meanwhile, Selangor Local Government, Public Transport and New Village Development Committee chairman Ng Sze Han said today that 45 premises operating in Taman Velox had temporary permits while 17 others did not.
According to him, the majority of the premises without permits were workshops and factories that did not renew their licenses or had registered themselves as workshops but conducted other businesses.
“Some of the premises have been ordered to shut down immediately while others are still being investigated,” he added.
— Bernama
