KUALA LUMPUR – Licensing issues surrounding the Father’s Organic Farm campsite will be dealt with in due time, as the focus now is on finding victims of the massive landslide there, said a Selangor executive councillor.
State Local Government, Public Transport, and New Village Development Committee chairman Ng Sze Han said the authorities’ immediate focus at the moment is rescuing victims still trapped under tonnes of earth.
“I think for now we should focus on all efforts to save the victims.
“(I) will give comment on that (operating without licence) at a later stage,” Ng said in a reply to The Vibes.
He was asked about how campsites such as the one at Father’s Organic Farm, which only had approval to run as an organic farm, could operate camping grounds without a licence.
Yesterday, Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming revealed that a check showed that the campsite did not have a licence, although the farm had approval from the Hulu Selangor Municipal Council in 2019 to operate as an organic farm.
The minister said that the operator can be fined not more than RM50,000 and face imprisonment of not more than three years under the Street, Drainage, and Buildings Act 1974 for operating the campsite without a permit.
94 victims were trapped in a landslide at the farm that occurred early yesterday morning. 61 were rescued.
As of this afternoon, the second day of search-and-rescue operations, 23 have been found dead and 10 are still missing. – The Vibes, December 17, 2022
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