Vandals are to be blamed for the recent incident where a disabled couple was forced to crawl up and down the stairs to their first floor flat at PPR Taman Wahyu 2, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) said.

In a statement to Malaysiakini , a DBKL spokesperson confirmed that one of the three lifts at Block C of the flats stopped working on Nov 7 after an unidentified person jammed its door panels with a piece of wood.

“However, DBKL initiated repairs and it took three days to complete because it was a major damage,” the spokesperson from DBKL’s Housing Management and Community Development Department said.

Malaysiakini last week reported that the couple, 44-year-old A Thangarajoo and his wife, 44-year-old M Valli, were forced to crawl down two flights of stairs every morning since two days before Deepavali because the lift button on their floor was not working.

The couple, both wheelchair-bound, lives on the first floor of Block C, which has units specially allocated for disabled families.

Thangarajoo, a former national paralympic tennis player, who is widely known as Rajoo ( photo ), also said damaged lifts were normally quickly fixed as there would be a torrent of complaints from residents in the 17-storey public housing flats.

However, in the latest case, the management did not see any urgency in fixing the problem as it was only a damaged button on the first floor, Rajoo said.

Rajoo, who runs a food stall at Malaysiakini with his wife Valli, added that the new lift at his block is not yet functional.

All lifts being upgraded

DBKL, in response, said that it is in the process of upgrading all the three main lifts located at each of the three blocks.

“The upgrading process is carried out in three phases. The first phase is to replace the ‘lif bomba’ at Block A, Block B and Block C; followed by phase two (upgrading Lift No 2) and phase three (Lift No 3).

“In order to allow for these upgrading works to be done, the appointed contractor is (currently) required to turn off all Lift No 1, while Lift No 2 and Lift No 3 are functioning as usual,” the spokesperson said.

Rajoo had said this incident was the longest period he had to crawl down the stairs and the situation was made worse due to its filthy condition.

"I would be able to bear with it if the staircase is clean - but it's filthy. There are all kinds of things, like urine, cat faeces, food leftovers and spit," he said.

The DBKL spokesperson said a joint management body has been appointed since 2012 and one of its duties is to ensure that the surrounding areas are cleaned every single day.

Additionally, the spokesperson said, there are also units allocated for the disabled at PPR Taman Wahyu 2 with specially modified bathrooms and parking bays right below their units.