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HOTTER INSIDE: Toa Payoh resident Benny Yeo said that with the vents sealed, he can no longer stay indoors without turning on the fan. -- ST PHOTO: MELISSA SIM
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AIR vents along the corridors of nine HDB blocks have been sealed, and some residents are not taking well to it - especially since they were not consulted on the move.
A group of residents from Block 31, Toa Payoh Lorong 5, are unhappy that the sealed vents mean less light and air entering their one-room flats.
Since the vents were sealed last month, retiree Benny Yeo, 75, said he has been unable to stay indoors without turning on the fan. His electricity bill rose from about $30 to $35 last month as a result.
Heat aside, his neighbours - mostly elderly folk like him - are also concerned that their shouts for help would go unheard.
Madam Ee Mai Lan, 69, had a more morbid concern - that the smell of a corpse would go undetected. She said: 'If we die inside, nobody will know.'
Mr Yeo said he was upset that the residents had not been consulted before the vents were sealed.
Residents over at Block 105, Jalan Bukit Merah, whose vents were also sealed, had similar grievances, although some welcomed it.
Madam Chan Ter Chai, 78, said closing the vents made her home warmer, but it also prevented people from tossing cigarette butts from the corridor into her home.
The Housing Board, which said the move to seal the vents was aimed at preventing fires from spreading, began closing up the vents following last August's fire at Block 105.
Singapore Civil Defence Force investigations showed that the blaze, which killed a resident and injured several others, had spread from one unit to another through the vents.
Block 105 resident Cheong Soon Onn, 66, who remembers how smoke streamed into his unit through the air vents, is also for the change, 'so fire won't come into my home'.
Besides Bukit Merah and Toa Payoh, vents at housing blocks in Chin Swee, Ang Mo Kio and Beach Road have also been sealed.
The HDB said it understood that some residents were used to the vents, but added that 'the safety of our residents is of paramount importance'.
It will henceforth send its staff to the affected blocks to explain the reason for the change ahead of the works, for which 15 more blocks have been earmarked.
MP Josephine Teo, who visited the residents of Block 31 in Toa Payoh on Saturday, told The Straits Times she understood the residents' 'discomfort at having to adjust'.
When asked what could be done to help, she said providing energy-efficient lights or fans for those who had till now counted on the vents letting in light and air was an option.
She added, however, that the needs of the families varied, and would be addressed accordingly.
simlinoi@sph.com.sg
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