KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan has submitted a proposal for all existing and new PPR low-cost housing flats in Federal Territories to be installed with metal window grilles.
The call to install grilles follows a case of a toddler who fell from the third floor window of her flat at PPR Sri Aman in Jinjang on May 2.
Party president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau said the party felt it was mandatory and had officially written to the Ministry of Federal Territories to consider the installation of new grilles at high rise buildings with immediate effect.
"The grilles are an important safety feature at any high rise buildings, especially when the residents have young children. The incident could have been avoided if only the PPR units were installed with grilles for the windows," he said after a meeting with Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Edmund Santhara at Menara PGRM yesterday.
Lau said that safety should be priority for all PPR flats, affordable housing, or the government's Rent-To-Own (RTO) housing schemes, with window grilles being made a mandatory fixture.
"According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), increasing window guards could reduce the number of child falls by 50 to 90 per cent. Gerakan hopes the government will make it a prerequisite to pre-install metal grilles or window restrictors when constructing new low-cost flats in future," said Lau who had visited the toddler's family last Sunday to sponsor a new set of window grilles.
He added the sponsorship of the grille was vital to the grieving family because there were a few more young children living there.
