MARANG, 15 Feb 2018:
Legal action will be taken on those using construction material prohibited by the Fire and Rescue Department (JPBM) at their homes or other premises.
Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said those wanting to renovate their homes or premises should check with the JPBM to ensure the material they intended to use was not against the law.
“Please use material which has been approved by the fire department if you want to renovate and beautify your homes…refer to the department.
“We do not want an incident like the fire in London which killed 70 people as the building used cladding, which is inflammable.”
Noh was commenting on the fire which broke out at the Employees Provident Fund building in Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya on Feb 13.
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today urged some 400 private tahfiz schools nationwide to immediately register with their respective state Islamic religious departments to ensure safety and safeguard the interests of students.
He said the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department’s statistics showed there were almost 1,000 tahfiz schools in the country, but only 612 were registered.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said the unregistered schools are believed to have hesitated for fear they probably could not meet the conditions for registration.
“This is because the Islamic departments have their own standards that should be met, such as fire safety features and adequate number of teachers. However, these schools still have to register for the safety of the students.”
The deputy prime minister spoke after presenting 1,836 fire extinguishers to registered tahfiz institutions at the Perdana Putra Building in Putrajaya today.
Ahmad Zahid – who had earlier chaired the Tahfiz School Task Force Meeting – said the taskforce had agreed to supply closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to tahfiz schools which were registered through the Taqwa Foundation, a social welfare organisation, and the Implementation Coordination Unit in stages.
He said this would be further scrutinised as the installation of the CCTV cameras would be quite costly.
Ahmad Zahid said the meeting also issued an instruction for all fire extinguishers presented today to be properly maintained and the taskforce would ensure all tahfiz schools would organise fire drills at least once a year under the Fire Department’s supervision.
He also called on all quarters to give their support to the government in uplifting the status of tahfiz schools in the country.
– Bernama