Long-suffering residents want state govt to act on farms

It’s that bad: Sargunan (right) and Chew showing the polluted water from a canal near their housing area.

NIBONG TEBAL: The residents of a gated community here, facing pollution hazards from nearby pig and poultry farms, lead an isolated life.

“We don’t invite friends to our homes. We will never hold parties here,” said resident R. Sargunan, 38.

“We were chided by friends and relatives for buying homes so near the farms.”

A team from The Star met several residents in Valdor, who have formed an action group to call for corrective action on the pollution.

One reporter said his nostrils “felt raw” after he had been there for about half an hour, making him wish there was some place with clean air.

But the pungent smell is everywhere, even in the air-conditioned rooms of the well-built homes in the gated community.

It is not just the smell.

Sargunan said the neighbourhood faces a constant invasion of flies.

“Every window is closed. We even keep the windows closed when we are cooking, or we will be surrounded by flies,” he said.

He said he bought his two-storey link house for RM555,000 two years ago.

His home is just 200m from the cluster of farms, separated by a railway track.

“I had no idea I was so close to them. Before I bought my house, I read on the Internet about people complaining about the smell.

“I asked the sales people. They told me the farms would be relocated soon or they will implement a closed farming system.

“But after two years, nothing has changed.

“Even our laundry smells like pig dung after it dries,” Sargunan added.

A property agent whose number was on a for rent sign outside one vacant house said the rental was RM700 monthly.

This is surprisingly low considering the construction quality and the close proximity of the second Penang bridge, just 5km away.

Another resident, Jack Chew, 35, lives about 500m from the farms, but said the distance does nothing to lessen the reek.

“The smell is always worse at night when the breeze tends to blow from the farms.

“We have been smelling it every night for the last two years,” Chew said.

He said the action group will petition the state government for action.

“Why approve residential development here and do nothing about the farms?

“The nearest home is only about 100m from the pig farms. Shouldn’t there be a buffer?” Chew asked.