A NEW burner costing an estimated RM650,000 has been proposed for the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) crematorium under the council’s 2018 budget.
Mayor Datuk Mohd Aziz Mohd Zain told StarMetro that the new burner would be bought once the budget was approved.
“We will have three modern burners once we acquire the new one.
“All three burners will be able to be run at the same time and the necessary wiring upgrades will be carried out,” he said.
In July, StarMetro reported on the purchase of two modern burners in 2012 for RM1.3mil but both could not be operated simultaneously due to wiring problems.
The council received public criticism for not addressing the issue for five years.
In August, one of the staff rooms in the crematorium caught fire, resulting in the facility shutting down for almost three weeks.
On Sept 1, the crematorium resumed operations and both the modern burners were able to be used at the same time.
At the recent MBPJ full board meeting, the cause of the fire was revealed to have been a TV cable point inside the room.
Councillor Derek Fernandez said there should be more questions raised as to why the switches were not switched off when the staff left and why there was a TV in the crematorium’s staff room.
At the meeting, the mayor said he was informed that the TV was an old one and the plug point may have been overloaded.
However, he added that there should not have been a TV in the staff room.
Instead, it should have been placed in the crematorium’s public waiting area.
On the matter of building safety, the mayor said the council’s building control department should play an important role by making sure developments in the city followed the Guide For Fire Protection from the Fire and Rescue Department.
He said the building control department must ensure developments adhere to the Uniform Building By-Laws Selangor 1986, and carry out inspections before granting the Certificate of Compliance and Completion.
He urged the department to continue with routine inspections to ensure the developments followed council-approved building plans.
“We do not want tragedies such as the tahfiz school fire, which led to 23 deaths in Dato Keramat. Make sure these buildings have all the necessary safety measures.
“We must also check on our own council assets to see if these buildings have fire escape routes and if the smoke detectors are functioning.
“We want the fire detecting facilities to be available and fully functional at all times,” he said.