BATU CAVES, 27 JAN: The State Government will ensure that future developments at Batu Caves will be carried out and planned properly.
Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said that the decision was necessary so that the temple there for the Hindus from the Indian community will be preserved and unaffected.
Therefore, Abdul Khalid said that the State Government has decided to cancel the 26-storey condominium development project which was planned at the area adjacent to the temple.
“We want the development at Batu Caves to be carried out properly so that the Indian community will feel that they have a development that suffers no problems in terms of approval and that this temple will continue to be cared for, for hundreds of years.
“That is why the State Government has decided that developments (planned) at Batu Caves will be properly scrutinised,” he said at a Thaipusam Day celebration here last night.
The ceremony was attended by over 5,000 people including the leaders of Pakatan Rakyat.
Abdul Khalid said that the temple is the pride of the Indian community and that it should be preserved well because it is well known in this country and the world over.
“The State Government will not be tolerant in terms of future developments,” he said.
Prior to this, the State Government had appointed five professionals to join an independent committee to examine the project permission for the construction of the condominium at Batu Caves and its surrounding areas.
The professionals are Klang District Dignitary, Datuk Setia Diraj Datuk Abdul Ghani Pateh; Neurosurgeon, Dr M Nachiappan; former Judicial Commissioner, Datuk Ranita Hussein; construction law specialist, Harbans Singh and Geology expert, Tan Boon Kong.
Previously, the Dolomite Park Avenue project at Batu Caves by developer, Dolomite Properties Sdn Bhd had received strong opposition because the area is a focus point for Hindu worship.
According the the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) minutes, the project was approved in 2007 during the previous Umno-BN administration.
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