TNB face off with villagers again, three held

Chaos again erupted at Rawang New Village as Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) workers began construction work on high tension cable towers in the area. Backed by about 50 police personnel, about a dozen TNB workers appeared at the village unannounced and began work at about 9am. According to eyewitnesses, the TNB workers were trying to fill up a trench to allow heavy machinery to reach the site. This prompted scores of villagers to stop them from doing so and a fracas broke out.

A TNB worker fell in the ditch during the ensuing melee, resulting in the arrest of three individuals. They were a villager and two aides of Rawang state assemblyperson Gan Pei Nei. Eyewitnesses claim that the TNB worker's fall was an accident and not the fault of those arrested. They have been brought to the Rawang police station.

Still in negotiations'

Following this, villagers remained at the site, monitoring the workers' activities. At about 2pm, Selangor exco member Elizabeth Wong arrived at the scene and presented TNB workers with a document ordering them to stop work.Wong explained that the state government was still in negotiations with TNB over the situation in the village and thus the latter should not begin work.A lawyer who represented TNB told Wong that since the Federal Court had ruled in favour of the utility giant, it had the right to begin construction work. After failing to convince the workers, Wong contacted TNB vice-president Rozimi Remeli, urging him to discuss the matter with the Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim. This too proved futile.
Municipal officers to the rescue

At around 4.30pm, Selayang Municipal Council officers arrived at the scene and said that the contruction works were in violation of council bylaws and thus TNB must stop work.Although TNB workers heeded the council officers, they have already performed some piling work and placed a barbed wire fence around the site.TNB is attempting to resume the construction of high tension cable towers which was halted five years ago, after villagers mounted a legal challenge to stop the project.

The matter was eventually brought to the Federal Court which ruled in TNB's favour, but villagers still resisted attempts by the company's engineering team to resume works in March.The Selangor state government attempted to intervene in the matter, offering TNB an alternative site for the towers and wanted to deliberate on the matter further through a joint committee, which will also involve the residents.

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/144685