Kampung Buah Pala Residents Association secretary J Steven Draviam said the developer, Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd, had originally offered only a RM90,000 cash payment or a low-medium cost corner unit measuring 850 sq ft in the upcoming project, the Oasis.
“The developer has never offered RM200,000 per family... never. The chief minister got it all wrong. Perhaps he is getting wrong (information) from the wrong people,” he said, calling on Lim Guan Eng to visit the village to get first-hand information.
Lim had said yesterday that the village residents were offered up to RM200,000 per family by the developer, and that the sum had been accepted by some, while many others have chosen to stay put at the site.He also said the developer would have evicted the residents in the middle of last year if not for the state government's timely intervention, which Steven duly acknowledged.
Nusmetro, meanwhile, has agreed to give a month's grace as of yesterday, to allow the state government to explore ways to resolve the predicament amicably.
Deputy Chief Minister 2 P Ramasamy announced this when he met the residents at the village yesterday afternoon. He also said the state government is working overtime on the matter.
“We understand your pain. We will do our best to achieve an amicable solution,” he assured them, in the presence of DCM 1 Mansor Othman, village legal adviser Cecil Rajendra and PKR state assistant secretary M Nyanasegaran.The villages had filed an application yesterday morning to set aside an ex-parte order dated June 16 obtained by the land office, landowner Koperasi Pegawai-Pegawai Kanan Kerajaan Pulau Pinang and Nusmetro to issue a writ of possession effective tomorrow.
The application was filed on the behalf of the residents by lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira.
Three demands submitted
Yesterday evening, some 150 Hindu Rights Action Force activists and villagers held a rally outside Komtar to protest against what they called the “incompetence and ineptness” of the state government in resolving the problem.
They passed three resolutions and submitted these to Mansor at a dialogue session in Komtar after the rally. They want the state government to:
- stop the developer from demolishing the village;
- provide an alternative site for the Oasis project; and
- include three representatives, comprising the village association chairperson M Sugumaran and assistant secretary C Tharmaraj, and Hindraf activist N Ganesan in the state investigation team probing the alleged land scam in this matter.
Mansor, who heads the inquiry panel, said he would refer the resolutions to the state executive council for a decision.Kampung Buah Pala is known among locals as the 'Tamil High Chaparral' - named after the popular television series - because of its population of cowherds, cattle and goats.
