PUTRAJAYA - The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has begun installing safety nets near the ground floor level at flats built for the urban poor, after a boy was killed last week after being hit by a chair tossed from the upper floors of a block of flats.

Form Three (Secondary Three) student S. Sathiswaran, 15, died on the spot when the chair hit him and narrowly missing his mother who was walking beside him, in the incident that shocked Malaysia.

The killer-litter incident happened in the Pantai Dalam area of Kuala Lumpur.

The government is stepping in to build the safety nets at 72 People's Housing Projects (PPRs), New Sunday Times (NST) newspaper reported on Sunday (Jan 21).

Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said installation work has started at 494 blocks of PPRs in the city.

"Even though it is ridiculous to fix nets at floors below, we have to do it for the safety of the people.

"Although the boy's death is the first fatal incident, (there have been numerous instances) of residents being injured by people throwing items from the upper floors.

"We view this matter very seriously, as people's lives are at stake here," he added.

He said DBKL is mulling imposing stricter actions and penalties on those found guilty of throwing items from the upper floors. There are 80,000 PPR units in the city centre, housing the urban poor.

Referring to the killer-litter case, the minister said, as quoted by NST: "Serious action will be taken against the perpetrator. This case is unprecedented and we will make sure that the law takes its course."

Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan said the cost of installing the safety nets have yet to be finalised.