BY M. SIVANANTHA SHARMA

Halted: Some of the Rumah Hijau residents blocking MPSP enforcement officers from pulling down units within the area in Butterworth.

AUTHORITIES were stopped from carrying out demolition works at the Rumah Hijau village in Mak Mandin, Butterworth, whose occupants had been given eviction orders.

Seberang Prai Municipal Council and Public Works Department workers had torn down five abandoned houses but were stopped by Rumah Hijau Residents Association members and several residents when the workers moved their two bulldozers to demolish five other houses that were occupied.

The workers stopped work immediately during the confrontation that saw representatives from Umno and MCA at the scene.

Police Federal Reserve Unit personnel were also on standby to ensure no untoward incidents happened when the demolition workers arrived at the site at about 10am yesterday.

M. Thillainayagi, 48, one of the residents of the 68-unit Rumah Hijau who received the July 27 dated eviction notice, said she was handed the notice on July 29.

“An officer delivered the letter to me personally and he tried to take a photo of him handing the letter to me but I managed to avoid the photo from being taken by running away.

“We have been staying here for more than 24 years and is it fair to ask us to vacate so suddenly? No compensation was discussed,” she said.

Cheah Chia Chia, 48, who also received the eviction letter said he was prepared to move once the compensation issue had been settled.

“Nobody approached me to settle the matter. If they give me a good compensation deal, I am ready to move out,” he said.

Bagan Umno division deputy chief Abdul Hamid Ibrahim urged both sides to reach an amicable settlement.

“Giving one week notice to vacate is bad. Where can these residents go,” he asked.

“They (authorities) should discuss with the residents.”

Also at the scene were Bagan MCA treasurer Sum Yoo Keong and Penang MCA secretary Dr Tan Chuan Hong.

Dr Tan urged the relevant authorities to solve the matter “once and for all.”

“The Rumah Hijau issue is a longstanding issue and must be put to rest,” he said.

Resident Association committee member P. Bala, 49, claimed that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had assured that the state government would not evict the residents until Federal authorities had built houses for the residents on a site nearby.

“I am shocked that the land office had issued the eviction letters so suddenly,” he said.

State executive councillor Lim Hock Seng, who is also the Bagan Jermal assemblyman, told reporters that the state government had decided to compensate the 68 Rumah Hijau residents with a RM42,000 low-cost flat each in Ampang Jajar.

“They have six months to take up the offer and if they don’t move into the flats by six months the offer lapses and they will be given RM25,000 in cash.

“The state exco decided this in our meeting (yesterday),” Lim told reporters at the state-level Hari Raya gathering in Seberang Jaya.