GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government has been told to provide reasonable explanation as to why they issued two letters to the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP), stopping them from taking action against the illegal carbon filter factory in Sungai Lembu.
Penang Gerakan’s Padang Kota state constituency coordinator H’ng Khoon Leng said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and state Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh should come clean on the matter.
The letters were allegedly written by Phee to MPSP, first in 2015 and then in 2016 again.
“Lim and Phee must provide reasonable explanation if they want to prove that they are not covering up for any party,” he said today.
H’ng also took the state government to task over conflicting statements after the meeting minutes of the illegal factory issue were disclosed earlier this week.
He said the move also revealed that the state government was the culprit behind the Sungai Lembu illegal carbon filter factory.
“According to the meeting minutes, officers from the Department of Environment (DoE) clearly stated that they visited the factory and found no pollution as it has a roof to prevent smoke from escaping. As such, the DoE stated that it allowed the factory (to) operate as long as the burning was done in an enclosed building with proper control in place.
“However, the problem now is that the residents are suffering from constant thick smoke from the factory. Recent news reports also showed that the factory does not carry a carbon filter, which made it no different from open burning. Even fire fighters failed to extinguish the fire and there was thick smoke all over the place.
“Can the state government explain this situation as well?” he added.
H’ng further pointed out that the Sungai Lembu residents had complained to the Pakatan Harapan assemblymen about the problems they were facing since 2015, but it was all in vain.
He said they subsequently launched a petition to collect signatures and submit the matter to the state government.
“The village development and security committee (JKKK) also strongly opposed to the state government’s proposal to turn the agricultural area around the illegal factory into an industrial area.
H’ng also accused Lim of trying to whitewash and legalise the said illegal factory and came out with many “ridiculous excuses” under the rationale of “humane policy”.