Old Bill Shock In New Home For Shoebox Family

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The Penang Water Supply Corporation is demanding Paner Selvam Subramaniam (in yellow shirt) to pay RM400 in backdated water bills.GEORGE TOWN: After living in a shoebox of a room for years, Penang Hospital security guard Paner Selvam Subramaniam finally got his new unit at the Rifle Range Flats – but another shock was waiting for him.
The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBA) is demanding that he cough up RM400 in backdated water bills that the previous tenant did not pay.
An NGO assisting says the family of five has been told to pay the bill or face having their water supply cut.
Paner had been living in a cluster home of 30 rooms at Jalan Utama with his wife and three young children for the past two years.
He lived in a room the size of a queen-size bed and was recently forced to quarantine for 30 days after an occupant tested positive for Covid-19.
His plight received the attention of NGOs and the Penang government, with the latter offering him a rental unit at Rifle Range Flats, Air Itam. He was supposed to move in on Monday.
The Penang Hindu Association (PHA), which is assisting the family in moving into the flat, however, was told by the PBA, that they had to settle the water bill of RM426.66 left behind by the earlier occupant.
PHA president P Murugiah said the earlier tenant had also left arrears close to RM300 for the unit’s electricity bill, but Tenaga Nasional Bhd had told Paner that they would not penalise him and would instead pursue the earlier occupant.
“Legally, PBA needs to demand the arrears from the previous tenant, instead of transferring the debt to Paner.
“This is like buying a second-hand car only to be saddled with all the traffic summonses for offences the previous owner committed.
“PHA is appealing to the chief minister to request PBA not to implement this practice of transferring the arrears to the new tenant,” Murugiah said in a statement.
The chief minister is the non-executive chairman of PBA. FMT has contacted PBA for comment and is awaiting its reply. - FMT

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