Fifty Taman Sri Muda residents have filed a suit against the Malaysian government along with 9 others for failing to handle the massive floods that inundated their neighbourhood last December.
According the Malay Mail, the suit was filed by Messrs Tanes, Khoo & Paulraj in the High Court in Shah Alam on 22 June.
The lawsuit filed named the director-general of the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), a minister in the prime minister’s department, the environment and water minister, the meteorological department’s director-general, the irrigation and drainage department, the Shah Alam City Council, KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), the Federal government and the Selangor state government as the defendant in the lawsuit.
The group is seeking special damages totalling RM3,767,148.51 from the defendants.
In addition, they also asked for general aggravated damages for “pain and suffering, emotional distress and mental anguish” to be assessed by the court.
The group was represented by Lawyer V. Vemal Arasan, said that he and Datuk Gurdial Singh Nijar have been engaged as counsels while the law firm Tanes, Khoo & Paulraj led by lawyer James Joshua Paulraj are acting as solicitors on a pro bono basis.
The group claimed that Nadma had failed to implement natural disaster management as outlined in the National Security Council’s Directive, which lead to the disaster they face in December last year.
They also said that the Meteorological Department failed to warn the resident of the bad weather which led to the flood in an effective and timely manner and that the department also failed to ensure fast and accurate information was given to response agencies.
The group also claim that the Department of Irrigation and Drainage had failed to develop an effective drainage system which caused or worsened the floods, as well as declaration that the department’s director-general had failed to ensure stormwater management requirements were complied with before granting approvals for new development projects in and surrounding Taman Sri Muda.
The case management had been fixed for 25 July.
In December 2021, Taman Sri Muda was hit by a massive flood that caused nearly 4,000 residents.
It was reported that water levels reach as much as 4 meters in some parts of Taman Sri Muda, swallowing houses and cars in the area during the disaster,
At least 25 casualties were reported during the flood in Selangor whereby the majority of the death occurs in Taman Sri Muda.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Taman Sri Muda was flooded. In 2019, there have been multiple floods reported in the area, with water levels rising knee-high.
