Thursday, May 30, 2013

Singing the rail blues

Blue skies, blue-r wall
I ride along Pinggir Zaaba in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, where work on the rail transit project rages on despite the pleas and cries of the residents, and I see this Great Wall of Blue, erected as if as a direct affront to the residents who have made life difficult for them. Man, if I were living in one of those houses, I'd be singing the blues, too! 
The residents, as we all know, are suing the company building the project. The  company, as we also know, is basically the Government of Malaysia. Messy. If rakyat didahulukan, it wouldn't have come to this, you think? I don't know, but I hear the residents are making a representation to the newly-reelected MP from the Oppositionj (they were engaging the BN-Gerakan lady before she lost at the PRU13) and the new Minister in charge of urban well-being. Well, good luck, we'll see what comes out of that, if any. 
In the meantime, another victim (LRT, not MRT but ...) ... 

Family of LRT site crane accident victim seeks answers

By AUSTIN CAMOENS
austin@thestar.com.my


KUALA LUMPUR: For the past three years, A. Vijayasingam drove every day from Kampung Pandan to work near Ara Damansara without any incident until last Friday.
That day, Vijayasingam's Hyundai Sonata was caught in rush hour traffic along Jalan Lapangan Terbang Subang when a 10-tonne construction equipment hoisted by a crane at an LRT extension site nearby fell and crushed his car.
The development executive was killed instantly in the freak accident while another driver, Arifpuddin Mansoruddin, 42, in a Nissan Frontier, was injured.
Vijayasingam's family is finding it difficult to come to terms with his sudden death and wants answers to how such an accident could have happened.
His brother-in-law Jai Ganesh, 36, said Vijayasingam had travelled along that route daily from his home in Kampung Pandan to get to work near Ara Damansara.
“My brother-in-law was a good and responsible man. It is hard for us to accept this,” he said, adding that Vijayasingam's wife was grief-stricken by the tragedy.
“She's inconsolable,” he said, adding that the construction company should have assured the safety of all motorists travelling on that particular stretch of road.
“The family is looking at the possibility of taking legal action against the construction company,” he said, adding that Vijayasingam's funeral and cremation were held at around 10am yesterday.
Later, during a visit to Vijayasingam's family by Prasarana senior officials, its group director for infrastructure services Masnizam Hisham described the incident as “truly unfortunate”.
“We came to offer our condolences and extend a helping hand to the family,” she said.
Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed said they were investigating the case from several angles, adding that so far, no criminal element had been found.

p.s. Too many companies take safety for granted these days. The HR Ministry ought to come down hard on them. Like really hard. I don't think the cranes in the pictures below will fall on any of the Pinggir Zaaba's resident's head, but the residents think there's an accident waiting to happen. 

Several break-ins after work started, say residents

An accident waiting to happen


17 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:07 pm

    Second fatality yesterday. I actually rode behind the trailer carrying that metal blue-thing an hour before the tragedy, after leaving my house in Taman Ara Damansara. I was thinking, "Yikes, scary if it somehow... falls off the trailer. I better give A LOT of space between us..."

    _ Azlan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:11 pm

    SAME THING APPLIES TO THE UNDER THE SEA TUNNEL IN PENANG, JUST WONDER HOW PEOPLE INTEREST CAN BE PROTECTED.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:11 pm

    SAME THING APPLIES TO THE UNDER THE SEA TUNNEL IN PENANG, JUST WONDER HOW PEOPLE INTEREST CAN BE PROTECTED.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:03 pm

    Yesterday, another accident happened at the same area in Subang. Rakyat didahulukan? Good job MRT Corp!!!!

    Thursday May 30, 2013

    One dead in Subang freak accident

    PETALING JAYA: A part of a boom crane fell off a trailer and crashed onto a passing car, killing a passenger and injuring the driver in it.

    The incident occurred near the underpass of the Subang Airport-Subang Jaya road, off the Federal Highway, at around 4.30pm yesterday.

    The accident caused a massive jam during the rush hour, which eased about two hours later.

    The deceased, Kelvin Kumar, 26, was a restaurant worker, who was travelling with his employer, Anisa Abdul Rahman, 46.

    Petaling Jaya Traffic chief DSP Wong Siw Choon said the worker died on the spot due to serious head and body injuries.

    His body was sent to the Unversiti Malaya Medical Centre for a post-mortem. The employer, who suffered serious injuries, was rushed to the Sime Darby Medical Centre.

    Firefighters from three fire stations rushed to the scene and extricated the victims from the wreck within 10 miniutes.

    “We believe the iron was being transported for use in the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project,” said DSP Wong.

    The driver of the trailer, in his 40s, has been detained for questioning.

    In a statement posted on the Selangor Fire and Rescue Department Facebook page, operation commander Hamzah Din said help was rushed to the scene from the Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya and Kota Anggerik fire stations.

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  5. Anonymous6:25 pm

    * When crimes are growing more rampant and lethal, the UMNO Government lied that crime is on the decline
    * When corruption and money laundering is bankrupting the nation, the UMNO Government lied that it's not serious enough to address the chronic diseases
    * When your safety in seriously threatened by the lack of enforcement as in Sarawak or the case shown here, the UMNO Government lackadaisical 'tak apa' attitude is clearly appealing
    * When the UMNO Government lost the majority votes, all that they could muster is to accuse the Chinese of being traitors. They forgot to point the fingers to their own selves on the causes of the urban voters who choose to vote for Pakatan
    * When UMNOputras showered and enjoyed themselves with luxurious and high style living, the poors can only hope for MYR500 handout

    UMNO - jaguh kampong dulu, kini dan selamanya
    Wahai, kampong tetap miskin duhu, kini dan selamanya.
    .

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous6:29 pm

    I was thinking and commented in fact in Tn Syed Outside the Box after the last election posting on some of the things that DSN should consider after BN worse result. One of my suggestions was to just postpone or perhaps cancel the MRT project like what Tun Lah did to the Johor's Scenic Bridge.

    Majority of the urban people did not vote for BN anyway. Why should the government spend all the money to the area that clearly rejected her? Many people in fact said that mega project contributes to a lot of corruption practices. And with all the sueing that the government is facing now due to this MRT project, what is the government trying to proof?

    Spend the billion Ringgit to the areas that made BN came to power again instead!

    I just don't understand.

    Ayob

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  7. Mustapha Ong7:30 pm

    The stretch of road from from Jln Lapang Terbang , Sultan Sallehuddin Subang Airport to Federal Highway n also NKVE from Kota Damansara which are both killer spots. Last year a 12 wheels trailer loaded with steel rods and had definitely exceeded their approved weight cashed into the left side of my car. Luckily, there was no passenger seated in the front seat otherwise the rod that had plunged a hole in the front door could have ended in fatality. The car was dragged for a few meters and the right side of the highway. I believe Divine intervention had saved my 9 lives! Cost more than 4 k to repair the car but most important, one life had been saved. Thank God but my condolence to the bereaved family of the victim of Kelvin Kumar and my prayers too to Anisa Abd Rahman.

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  8. Anonymous8:33 pm

    Hopefully not TRC again....real amateurs these guys...another crony company....on the other end of the world...Bina Puri has actually completed the pylons at Bukit Jalil, Kinrara and actually laying the tracks.....hope this whole section wont collapse like the Trangganu stadium after completion....

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  9. Anonymous8:49 pm

    were investigating the case from several angles, adding that so far, no criminal element had been found"

    so did they questioned the crane ? no ? and why not ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9:40 pm

    I was caught in the ensuing traffic jam for quite a while.

    Can I sue the construction company because the jam caused me to miss an important appointment, which cost me dearly?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mustapha Ong5:45 am

    I think it's stupid n easy to demand that BN shld STOP MRT currently being progressively under construction, when the intended benefits for the Rakyat are more than the temporary inconvenience that had confronted us. Please be patient n don't allow our emotions to overtake our own conscience n neither shld we politicize the matter of national importance! Neither of us have seen HELL but we certainly have seen Heaven on earth! I have seen HELL in movies n I truly believe that it's worse than what we have to go through our lives today on this earth created by God Almighty! Amin.

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  12. Anonymous10:15 am

    So you think you can tell
    Blue skies from paints
    ................confortably numb.....

    - pink floyd

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12:14 pm

    traffic jam is going to get worse even if all new development is to be put to a standstill. This is because the number of vehicles on the road mismatched the road capacity to handle traffic volumes. a realistic solution is for Khalid and the likes to show the way - cycling to the Dun!

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  14. Anonymous7:14 pm

    How about the stupid DBKL with tidak apa attitude also? They don't even care about numerous tree fall and flash flood in KL. RTM never report the issues also. Padam muka itu Raja Nong Chik kalah.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9:27 am

    See told you so....the PR people's representatives do nothing after winning the GE13. You all just have to live with it for the next 5 years.

    They just don't care about us.

    And you fellas have made you choice so live with it. So much blackout 505.....go stand in the rain or shine and be entertained by that sodomizer and his pack of wolves. Good ridden.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous10:23 pm

    It's easy to make comments without checking. As far as I know, MRT does not pass the Subang area. Ini LRT laa bodoh!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anon "laa bodoh" 1023pm,

    I did qualify, in the story, that the accident involves LRT and NOT MRT.

    thank you.

    ReplyDelete