NParks accuses man of being troublemaker after he submits feedback about hazardous damaged drains

In replying to a Singapore resident’s complaint about damaged drain covers due to tree pruning in his area, NParks outright accused the man as someone who is “out to find trouble with NParks.”

All the man did was try to highlight an issue which posed a potential safety hazard to pedestrians in his area.

Dixon Liw first discovered that tree pruning in his area may have led to damages on drain coverings when he saw significantly marred drain covers with tree parts lodged between the grates of the drains while he was on his regular jogging route.

He alerted the National Environment Agency and Land Transport Authority to the matter, following which LTA took action and fixed the issue.

However, the same thing happened again during the next tree pruning.

This time, Dixon emailed the National Parks Board and he was CC-ed in a reply openly accusing him of being a troublemaker. The staff who wrote the email, a Sawinikasni bin Awi who appears to be a manager at NParks, then interrogated Dixon about how he can be so sure that it was the tree pruning that led to the damaged drain covers.

This unexpected reply contradicts the fact that the onus of proving what the cause of damages to such property is lies with Governmental agencies like NParks.

In a subsequent Facebook post, Dixon questioned the state of public service in Singapore given this is how feedback is addressed by a government body.

He also reminded others of the Brompton bike saga that NParks was embroiled in two years ago, in 2014, when charges of corruption were leveled against NParks officials for concealing a S$57,200 deal to buy 26 Brompton bikes.