The resident of a landed property in Eunos was left frustrated after all eight of his treasured carp died.
Their deaths were caused by the ongoing renovation of his neighbour’s house, which caused cement and gravel to fall into his house and even into the pond, he claimed.
The man, who gave his name as Mr Lim Ah Boy, told Shin Min Daily News that his neighbour’s renovation works had been going on for more than a year.
However, no work was done to protect his premises from being affected, alleged the 60-year-old, who lives along Jalan Kechot in Eunos.
This resulted in a lot of gravel flying into his home, he said.
Some of the chips can be as long as two inches, he added, which can be fatal if anybody was hit.
Video clips he shared showed many pieces of debris on the floor of his yard.
He said his wife had spent a lot of time cleaning up after the workers finished work every day, and they also had to hire a part-time helper who comes every week.
Mr Lim said the cement and gravel also landed in his carp pond.
Carp are “very sensitive” and will feel uncomfortable when their water is polluted, leading them to jump out and die, he added.
That is what happened to his carp, the first of which died in February.
Two more died in March, and now a total of eight are dead. This caused him to feel “heart pain” due to the loss of life, he added.
Since all his carp are now dead, he will stop rearing fish until his neighbour’s renovation works are over.
On top of the grief he feels for the death of his carp, Mr Lim said he shelled out about S$5,000 to S$6,000 for them as all of them were Japanese carp.
He’d been rearing them for about five to seven years and had treasured them, he added.
This is the first time something like this had happened to him in his years of rearing fish, he claimed.
As for Mr Lim’s neighbour, he has approached them about his concerns but to no avail, he claimed.
However, contractor Su Ruixing (transliterated from Mandarin), who is in charge of the renovation works, told Shin Min that they had installed protective covering.
However, they had not been put up recently as they needed to strip mould from the stone columns and dismantle metal beams.
He also pointed out that he had helped Mr Lim to cover his fish pond in June after receiving feedback. As he thought that it was sufficient, the plastic sheets were removed.
But the contractor added:
During construction, it’s inevitable that some gravel and dust will cross over.
Mr Su also retorted that Mr Lim had asked him to clean his sink, which he did without charge. The cleaning costs came up to about S$3,000, but he decided to waive the fee as “compensation”, he claimed.
The dead carp isn’t all of Mr Lim’s concerns.
He said that a recent inspection of his house uncovered cracks in the ceiling of his dining room and master bedroom.
They were told that the cracks were due to the vibrations as a result of the foundation being laid next door.
But he had to repair the cracks at his own expense after the workers denied that this was the case, he claimed.
Moreover, Mr Lim found four tyre punctures in his car between February and June this year, he alleged.
Every time he changed a punctured tyre, it would get punctured again, leading him to send his car for repair.
He believes the damage to his car was due not only to gravel, but sharp metal objects like nails that dropped in his yard, he added.
Also read: Lim Chu Kang Fish Farm Loses Over 100 Koi, Allegedly Due To Water Pollution
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News.
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