Only two victims of Sentul Pasar fire eligible for PA/PPR homes - DBKL

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 -- Only two victims of the Sentul Pasar fire that occurred on Jan 14, are eligible to be considered for placement in Public Housing (PA) or People's Housing Project (PPR), said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in a statement today.

The decision was made after it conducted two censuses to identify the victims’ citizenship status on Jan 14 and Feb 8, it said adding that a check was also made on the victims’ property ownership records with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

“Based on the information obtained (from the censuses) and feedback from the IRB, it was revealed that one of the victims was the wife of the original owner of the house who had passed away and has no property ownership, while two of the victims have non-citizen spouses.

"Four victims or their spouses have property ownership within a radius of 35 square kilometres from Kuala Lumpur and three victims were not included in the original census,” read the statement.

On Jan 14 at about 7 pm, a fire broke out at No. 364, Lorong Sentul Pasar consisting of five bedrooms, a store and a kitchen used to cook food for catering.

The house was built on government reserve land and a total of six families were involved in the incident, however, no deaths were reported.

All the victims have been placed at a temporary shelter following the incident, it said adding that they have also received food items donated by the Federal Territories Deputy Minister’s office.

-- BERNAMA