KUWAIT CITY, Dec 6: Head of Ahmadi Gas Leak Victims Committee Eidan Al-Khaldi has demanded that the government urgently pay KD 500 housing allowance to Block 1 residents and added that he is prepared to institute legal proceedings to demand KD 1,500 allowance due to inflation in the real estate market. He said the houses provided by the government are below standard and many families haven’t received new flats until now.
In a press conference, Al-Khaldi said it is imperative that the government declare Ahmadi Block 1 a catastrophic area in accordance to Article 25 of the Constitution and demanded that the government conduct complete health checkups and cleansing for residents of the area. He urged that they be offered treatment and paid compensation as well for the damage caused to their health. Furthermore, he said every family head should be paid KD 1,000 housing allowance and appropriate furniture allowance until proper valuation of assets is done. He told the residents of Ahmadi to value their houses for compensation and buy new ones that befit their status.

Al-Khaldi shocked everyone by showing pictures of dead trees in North Ahmadi which were purportedly cut off at midnight by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to cover up the extent of damage caused by the gas leak. He said if trees could be affected badly, what do we say about the health situation of human beings living in this area? Gas level rose from 20 percent to 100 percent and about five incidences of cancer have been recorded within this year, stressing that there may be many other unknown cases. Al-Khaldi condemned the threat of authorities to cut off power supply in a bid to forcefully evacuate residents out of their homes and berated lawmakers for failing to do anything on the issue.

He lamented the sufferings of the residents from different ailments such as cancer, asthma and other respiratory problems. He denounced the media cover up of the scale of the crisis, pointing out that the order of the Civil Defense to the Consumer Cooperative Association to provide emergency houses shows that authorities realize the scale of danger but are deliberately downplaying it.
Finally, Al-Khaldi, who is a lawyer, disclosed that there are three legal cases he is filing on behalf of Ahmadi residents in an urgent plea to order the ministries of Health and Housing and the Environment Public Authority (EPA) to determine the level of gas poisoning in the air and consequential damages. He said other cases will follow.