Mr Chen Guowei had gone to Malaysia for a month between June and July to visit some friends. On July 30, the 71-year-old man returned to his one-room flat in Block 170 at Toa Payoh Lorong 1, only to find himself locked out of his house.
Initially shocked when he found a new lock on his front gate, he regained his composure when he read the notice that was pasted on his front door.
While he was away, officers from the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources had paid repeated visits to his flat in order to check for possible breeding grounds for the Aedes mosquito. As Mr Chen was away, they could not enter the house to conduct their inspection.
After getting authorisation, the officers finally entered Mr Chen's flat on June 26 to check his premises. The officers were acting in accordance with regulations by taking action to prevent the possible spread of dengue in the area.
In the notice, the authorities requested Mr Chen to collect the keys to the lock from them upon his return.
Another shock
Mr Chen received a second shock a month later when he received his water and electricity bill.
Instead of the regular $20 bill he usually paid, the bill for the month of August came up to more than $1200.
Mr Chen told Shin Min Daily News that he suspected the officers had accidentally broken the water storage tank in his home during their inspection, causing water to leak from it.
Water leakage
On the same day that Mr Chen returned from his overseas trip, he also found a notice from the Public Utilities Board (PUB) informing him that the water usage for his apartment was many times higher than usual.
PUB officers had visited his flat to shut off the main water supply and left him the notice, asking him to check if his pipes were leaking.
After turning on the water supply, Mr Tan found a big leak in his toilet and he called the Housing Development Board (HDB) to check.
It was then that HDB found that his water storage tank was leaking.
Response from authorities
Mr Chen said that he had already sent his complaints to the PUB and the Member of Parliament (MP) for his constituency.
He told Shin Min: "I have complained to the authorities several times, but they insist that they have nothing to do with it."
He added: "I wasn't the one who caused the leakage, why should I be the one to foot the bill?"
When Shin Min approached PUB, its spokesperson said officers were investigating the matter and they would take the necessary steps to tackle the issue once they had reached a conclusion.
