Landslide victims can't move back yet: Azmin

SHAH ALAM: Victims of the Serendah landslide will not be able to move back into their homes until the relevant authorities have cleared the site and declared it safe.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said the Selangor Public Works Department (PWD) is still investigating to determine the source of underground water flow in the area.
"PWD is conducting forensic (investigation) on the (soil) structure, the Mineral and Geoscience Department (JMG) also came down from Ipoh to see what is the source of this underground water before we can decide if the area is safe for residents to move back into their houses," Azmin told the press today.
He said PWD will need two more days before a report on the matter can be completed and the state government will decide on further action based on its results.
On state executive councillor for housing Datuk Iskandar Samad's suggestion to move the victims to public housing projects temporarily (PPR), Azmin said this will depend on the outcome of the report as well.
"Certainly we have to prepare for any eventuality, if the option is for them to move out then we will work with the residents. But as of this time it is still too early to make any decisions as PWD and JMG is still investigating," the Gombak MP and Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman said.
Meanwhile, Azmin said the government should provide more democratic space to the Opposition rather than labeling them "Nazis".
Azmin was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's comparing the Opposition with Nazi Germany at the Umno Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.
Commenting on party comrade Rafizi Ramli's proposal to have senior civil servants and MPs to declare their assets, Azmin said the state government has already done much more.
"We have already done that, and we have done more than that. We have not only done it personally at the executive level but also at the state government's various departments, and we have done it much earlier," he said.