Stop Bukit Gasing deforestation or we'll sue, NGO tells MBPJ
Peka president Rajesh Nagarajan (sixth from left, standing) with residents and hikers from Petaling Jaya and Bukit Gasing at the MBPJ building today.
PETALING JAYA : An environmental group today warned that it would take legal action against the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) if it did not halt the development activity in Bukit Gasing.
Peka president Rajesh Nagarajan said four weeks was 'more than enough time' for MBPJ to stop the development, which he claimed involved the extensive felling of trees on steep slopes.
'If we do not see any improvement, we will have no choice but to go to court,' he told reporters at a gathering outside the MBPJ headquarters here.
Peka also handed over a memorandum urging MBPJ to take immediate action and stop further activity in what it said was the last green lung in Petaling Jaya.
NGO secretary-general Vimala Raghavan claimed that several landslides had already been reported and said continued clearing could endanger lives.
'No more landslides. Our lives matter. If you kill the forest and the animals, do you think we can live? No way at all,' she said.
Vimala also said that monkeys, whose habitats had been destroyed, were now seen roaming the streets in search of food.
The protest was joined by a group of residents and hikers from Bukit Gasing and Petaling Jaya, who echoed Peka's call for an immediate end to all logging and development activities in the area.
Rajesh asked how the project had received approval, given the history of landslides and high rainfall in the area.
'You are destroying the forest. Bukit Gasing is the last green lung we have in Petaling Jaya. If you destroy it, we'll be left with a concrete jungle,' he said.
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