SINGAPORE: Residents complained that an HDB unit was not using the provided clothes rack properly, but instead hung bamboo poles around the rack to dry the clothes. This sparked concern, especially that the poles might fall and injure other residents.
As reported to Shin Min Daily News, a woman living in a high-rise unit at Yishun has been hanging clothes on bamboo poles outside her window for the past two weeks. It was alarming because the building had just recently completed its Home Improvement Program and had replaced its clothing racks with new ones.
The concerned resident admitted: “These new clothes racks no longer have holes for bamboo poles, making them unsuitable for drying clothes with bamboo poles.” Furthermore, she also stated that she once saw a bamboo pole that fell below the building, and it was eventually picked up.
Additionally, the number of bamboo poles that the woman had been using had increased, from two or three bamboo poles to four to five in recent days. The photos showed that there were five bamboo poles on the clothes rack outside the unit window, and one was placed horizontally on the exterior wall of the HDB building.
When the reporters interviewed the unit owner, the 73-year-old woman claimed that she usually hung her clothes in her unit, but they were difficult to dry on rainy days.
“But it’s been raining for the past two weeks, and the clothes are hard to dry, so I had no choice but to hang them out to dry,” she admitted.
The woman also said that when placing the bamboo pole on the clothes rack, she would use cable ties and a rope to secure it.
“I’m also afraid that if the bamboo pole falls and hits someone or a car, I’ll be responsible,” she declared. She also denied that the bamboo that fell was her fault.
To address this issue further, the staff of the town council also visited the residents and advised them to go against such dangerous methods.
“If similar situations continue to occur after we issue this advice, we will take action. We will also continue to closely monitor the situation in the surrounding HDB flats,” the council said.
In similar HDB complaints, five households from another HDB building complained that their neighbour has been using a ‘thinner’ to kill insects over the past three months, and the thick smell that comes with the chemical has been affecting their daily lives.
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