A fire at a 13th floor HDB unit in Bukit Batok resulted in a warning for the Jurong-Clementi Town Council (JCLTC), issued by the SCDF. The attending SCDF officers were unable to access the locked fire-hose compartments, and there were also no water supply to the hoses.
The MP for the area, Murali Pillai, explained that JCLTC had taken action against their officers who locked the affected equipment as a way of preventing vandalism.
On the issue of the non-existent water supply, investigations were still ongoing as the contractor responsible, JKeart Pte Ltd, disputed the findings.
JCLTC has since concluded its investigations. Through CCTV footages, it found that the contractor, JKeart, failed in its duty to ensure that a selector switch in the pump room was in the correct, "auto mode". In "manual mode", the water supply was cut off.
The technician from JKeart, as well as the Property Officer from the town council, will be redeployed.
JCLTC is fortunate to have CCTVs to assist in the investigations. This concerns safety and the various parties were responsible, not only residents in the constituency, but also to Singaporeans at large. If there was a structural or systematic defect that caused the water supply to be cut off, they needed to be fixed.
Now, Singaporeans can breathe easy.
However, a question still remains. In any organisation, the leader is the one responsible for setting the tone and cultivating the culture. Surely then, Murali Pillai, as an MP for the area, has to take responsibility for some of the oversight?
