Town council removes garden after complaints about rats
Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper 8 Nov 08;
THESE days Mr Lim Ah Shuan is, in his own words, 'a little bored'.
The resident of Block 819, Yishun Street 81 used to spend his free time tending a herb garden that's roughly one-third the size of a badminton court.
Mr Lim, who is in his 80s, lives on the second storey and the garden is directly below his living room window.
But the garden, which he started 21 years ago, was removed by the Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council on 20 Oct because of complaints about rats in the area. He is not the first to face the loss of a neighbourhood garden.
In April, The New Paper carried a similar report about a garden in Toh Yi Drive which was removed because the elderly residents who set up the plot did not get approval to plant there.
Mr Lim, a retiree who has seven children and 14 grandchildren, said in Mandarin: 'I used to live in a kampung at Jalan Ulu Sembawang. We grew many different plants there. When I moved here about 20 years ago, I brought the plants over.'
He would water them every day and fertilise them with chicken droppings that he bought from the market.
There were over 20 types of plants, including pandan and medicinal herbs that Mr Lim and his wife, Madam Toh Ah Poo, 78, would dry and store for use.
Mr Lim said one plant had leaves that could be steeped to make tea to soothe sore throats. Another plant could be used to make tincture to treat snake bites.
Mr Lim's neighbours could take whatever they wanted from his garden for free, he said. Some of them would consult him if they felt unwell, and he would prescribe some herbal medicine.
Not any more. All that's left are a few pots with scraggly plants.
Madam Toh said in Hokkien: 'After 20 years, of course I feel pain. So sayang ('What a pity' in Malay).'
Mr Lim said: 'I didn't think of appealing. All taken away and dead, how to start again?'
Mr Lim's grandson, Clement Lim, 16, said: 'My grandfather was sad. He had heard from other residents that the garden was going to be taken away and soon after that, it happened.
'I think it was maintained well, it should have just been left alone. It wasn't unhygienic.'
But that's not the impression that the Town Council got when they inspected the garden with the National Environment Agency early last month.
The council's general manager, Mr Goh Juak Kin, said it had received at least seven complaints from residents in the last three months.
'We have been working closely with our qualified pest control officers to bring the problem in this area under control. At the small plot of land, which was in an unkempt condition, six burrows were detected during our joint inspection.
'We also noticed that sweet potatoes were planted at the plot, which was a very likely food source for the rodents.'
The council's property officer then conducted surveys of the residents of Block 819. Out of the 10 households spoken with, only two residents, one of which was Mr Lim, claimed ownership of the plants.
Mr Goh said: 'After our property officer explained to them about the rodent problem and the need to upkeep and maintain the plants as responsible owners, both residents decided that they did not wish to keep the plants.
'However, they requested for some time to transplant some of the plants into pots, after which the Town Council could remove the rest.'
The residents were also told that if they wanted to take up gardening again, they could join the Community-In-Bloom garden a few blocks away at Block 830.
Community-In-Bloom gardens are a joint project between the Town Council and Residents' Committees to foster camaraderie among community gardeners while ensuring proper management and central control.
However, Mr Lim and the other resident declined to take up the suggestion, citing old age, said Mr Goh.
One neighbour, Mr Rafiz Hapipi, 33, who has lived in the area for over seven years, said he complained to the Town Council about the garden's removal.
He said: 'I've never seen rats in the garden. But when I went to see the MP for the area about this issue, at the Meet-the-People office, I saw rats there.'
