Updated with correction of name in caption and last graf: Shld read Arutchelvan.
BESTARI JAYA, Feb 15: Today’s groundbreaking ceremony for a new housing project here under the Harmoni MADANI’s People’s Residency Programme, also marks a fulfillment of a long-fought, 27-year old struggle for more than 245 former estate workers here for a house of their own.
These workers were among thousands of estate workers who were displaced from their estate quarters, where they had been living for decades, during the last few decades when many estates were bought over by new landowners.
Some were promised new places to stay. While some received their low cost housing units, just as many never received their promised homes.
The struggle for the 245 workers from five estates in Bestari Jaya, namely Mary, Nigle Gardner, Bukit Tagar, Sungai Tinggi and Ladang Minyak, to get their homes remained futile but the Kuala Kubu Bharu by-election in May 2024 offered a bargaining power for these families as many were also voters in the Kuala Selangor area. They sought for their homes in the mandate. The election was won by PKR.
The new project with a total development cost of RM75 million will see a total of 1,250 houses, a surau, community centre and other facilities, said K. Balachandar, who is head of the Indian community in Kuala Kubu Bharu.
Speaking to Weekly Echo today, he also commended Parti Sosialis Malaysia Deputy Chairman Arutchelvan Subramaniam, who had been instrumental in pursuing the struggle of the former workers who had worked in their respective estates for decades, before their displacement.
–WE