Black smoke from a fire that has smouldered in an illegal dump site since last month is suffocating the residents of Villa Impian and the surrounding villages in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.

Villa Impian resident Gary Su, 48, said the fire, which broke out nearly a month ago, took the Fire and Rescue Department almost a week to contain, and worse, was still smoking underground.

"You can see the smoke still coming out of the garbage pile and the smell is unbearable. First, we had to deal with the garbage and now, the stench of it burning.

"We are very worried because the smoke may contain toxic chemicals and we have families here.

“It is frustrating that after so many complaints, the situation has remained the same. The perpetrators need to be held accountable and dealt the maximum punishment allowed by the law,” he said.

Residents said lorries began arriving in the middle of last year to dump waste, especially from construction sites, at the vacant plot of land.

Resident Irwan Sabei said despite several complaints to City Hall, the waste dumping had not only continued, it had increased in volume.

“We used to see five to 10 lorries per day but since last month, we have been seeing 100 to 200 lorries per day. The trash is mounting up like never before.

“When we first complained to City Hall, its enforcement officers immediately came to put up a 'no garbage disposal’ sign and to dig trenches to prevent the lorries from coming in.

“But these people are smart. They merely filled in the trenches and the lorries were dumping garbage here once were,” he said.

Irwan said efforts to contact the owner of the land yielded the information that he had died several years ago, and the land had been left to his children, who had yet to come forward.

He said the villagers also discovered that since last month, ""bouncers"" had been posted at the gate to collect a fee of RM35 for each lorryload of waste.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who visited the site yesterday with the villagers, said the authorities needed to step up enforcement to nab those responsible for the illegal waste dumping and pollution.

“Those responsible for the pollution should be brought to justice. The punishment for such a crime should be imprisonment, so that it serves as a lesson to the culprit and others.

“All those involved should be brought to face the law, including irresponsible landowners,” he said.

Lim said the city authority should emulate Selangor, where it was recently announced by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali that privately-owned land which had been turned into illegal dump sites would be confiscated.