Free eye checks for two schools

PUPILS from two schools in Butterworth got free eye checks in a programme organised by the Rotary Club of Butterworth.

Six volunteers from the club spent more than three hours at SK Assumption and SK Kuala Perai recently to conducts the tests. There are 240 pupils in SK Assumption and 170 in SK Kuala Perai.

The programme, which included food for the pupils, was funded with a RM2,000 allocation from the Prime Minister’s Department that was channelled through Barisan Nasional’s Bagan co-ordinator David Chua.

Club president Khor Meng Chong said the club would sponsor the spectacles for pupils who were recommended to wear them after the test.

“We have been conducting the programme for the last five years to help needy pupils,” he said.

Khor said the club also organised other yearly events such as water awareness programmes for schools, festivals of joy for children in orphanages and medical camps.

“We also give out hampers to the needy during the major festivals, wheelchairs to deserving patients, and school bags, uniforms and shoes to poor students,” he said.

SK Kuala Perai headmaster Zainalee Ibrahim thanked the club for selecting the school for the programme.

He said this was the first such programme held in the school.

Plant closure cast in stone

THE Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) has assured residents in Kampung Bagan Dalam, Butterworth that a nearby cement batching plant would be shut down.

The assurance was given during a meeting held between the representatives from the residents and the municipal councillors at the MPSP headquarters recently.

Councillor Ahmad Farid Md Arshad said the council never gave any approval to the plant operator.

“The Department of Environment (DOE) also did not approve of its operations,” Ahmad Farid said.

It was issued a stop work order in September last year while the Department of Environment (DOE) also did not approve of its operations, Ahmad Farid added.

He said the water supply at the plant was also disconnected after the stop work order was issued.

“We have also told the operator to remove all raw materials from the site and not to bring in any materials. Only security guards are supposed to man the site,” said Ahmad Farid after the meeting.

Barisan Nasional Bagan parliamentary coordinator David Chua was also present.

Ahmad Farid said that MPSP would continue to monitor the site.

Ridzuan Md Zain, who represented the residents, said the plant should not be operating at a residential area which also houses a school, a mosque and a temple.

On Jan 17, it was reported that several residents in Kampung Bagan Dalam were appealing to the authorities to relocate the plant, which they claimed was causing pollution.

The plant, which underwent trial runs in September last year, was located just 50m from their houses.

The DOE in a letter to the residents concurred that it was inappropriate to build a plant in a housing area.


News from : The Star.Metro.2011 Mac 3