SG BULOH – Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for the parliamentary constituency here is determined to support efforts to upgrade the National Leprosy Control Centre (NLCC) for it to be recognised as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage Site.
According to Datuk R. Ramanan, the role of the centre in history must not be overlooked despite the debilitating disease being no longer reported in the country.
“There are currently only three such sites in the world. One is in the Philippines and two more in Malaysia, namely in Sg Buloh and Penang.
“However, they have since shuttered the site in Penang, making it only two sites now in the world.
“Are we going to let the site here close down as well?” he told a press conference after meeting nursery owners here today.
Ramanan opined that Sg Buloh’s (NLCC) should be recognised worldwide as a Unesco site given its importance for the livelihood of the community of ex-leprosy patients.
“The ex-leprosy patients community have been working here to develop the nursery for the last 40 years.
“I will pay more attention to the issue and continue the initiative of (the incumbent Sungai Buloh MP) R. Sivarasa who has been fighting for their well-being for the last few years,” he said.
Ramanan further said that the nursery owners have been asked to prepare a letter to be handed to Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari immediately.
“The menteri besar will be coming over to Sg Buloh tonight and I have asked them to prepare a letter to be handed to him in view of the visit,” he said.
The government previously ordered nursery owners around the PKKN site to relocate to three localities, namely in Kg Cempaka, Kayu Ara and Bukit Cherakah and Bukit Changgang to make way for the construction of the DASH Highway.
The proposal triggered dissatisfaction among the business owners, who later objected to it and are determined to continue doing their business at the current site. – The Vibes, November 14, 2022
