Pitas villagers plead for road upgrade

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The bad road condition is a danger to all road users.

PITAS: Villagers from Mangkubau Laut, Mangkapon, Telaga, Malubang, Mapan-Mapan and several villages near here are pleading with the government to upgrade the road from their villages to the main road.

The length of the road still untarred is estimated to be around 45 kilometers, beginning from Kampung Datong.

This was shared during a peaceful assembly of about 200 villages demanding for their road to be upgraded and bring positive changes to the lives of 15,000 people who are the main users of the badly dilapidated road.

The organizer of the event was Aman Balasundaram Kalippan, 35, also known as Bala @ Jack who explained that the assembly was not a protest but rather to bring the attention of the government towards the plight of the villagers affected.

Abdullah Isah, 50, a public health assistant working at the Klinik Kesihatan Kampung Bongkol said that the road problem has been an issue of lament by the kampung folks for many years.

The villagers involved in the peaceful assembly to demand the government to upgrade their road.

He is disappointed that despite the many years that have gone by, no action has been taken by the authorities.

He also said that he has been made to understand of the millions of ringgit that has been allocated for the road to be tar but no implementation was ever carried out to rectify the road condition.

Abdullah said that the bad road has made it difficult for villagers seeking treatment at the clinic to make the journey.

He also said that the clinic is now equipped with two ambulances and emergency equipment but they cannot use it because of the bad road condition.

Jali Suntang, 48, a teacher at SK Maringgan was also one of those participating in the assembly who is dissatisfied with the lack of action by the government to reduce the sufferings of the villagers.

He complained that his pupils have to go through the perils of walking along the pot-holes ridden roads, including inhaling the dust each time a vehicle passes them by.

He said that this has negative impacts on the pupils, citing that as teachers, they have to understand why some pupils arrive at the school late.

“Their learning process is impacted,” he said.

He then urged the government to look seriously into the issue and improve the road condition.