SINGAPORE: This year has been a particularly scorching one, with record temperatures in many parts of the world, especially in South and South East Asia. In Singapore, the temperature of 37°C last Saturday (May 13) matched the highest temperature recorded since April 1983.
It was also the day when one Facebook user wondered why the fans at the Punggol LRT were not turned on despite the extremely hot weather.
“Install all these fans for what? Hot day at 33°C for the whole entire week coming but, not 1 single fan is being turned on at all! Not just 1 LRT Station but, all LRT stations at Punggol! Why???,” asked netizen Phua Kelly.
“Commuters fare can’t cover cost is it?” she wrote, adding that the temperature that day felt like felt like 40°C.”
Ms Phua added a video of an LRT platform. And when the video panned upward, it showed that the fans were indeed not on.
The netizen posted the video on her own account, as well as on the Complaint Singapore Facebook page.
In an answer to a netizen who told her that maybe the fans had overheated, Ms Phua wrote that she had called on the platform phone, and was told “we will see what we can do about it”.
She added that 10 minutes later when she passed by, the fans had not yet been turned on.
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Ms Phua as well as to the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Saturday that “Several locations across the island recorded temperatures exceeding 36°C today (13 May 2023).
The highest temperature of 37.0°C, the year’s warmest so far, was recorded at Ang Mo Kio.”
It added that by next week, however, some showers are expected that may help cool things down.
/TISG