Residents upset over the construction of high-tension electric cable towers over their Rawang New Village today brought their grouses to the doorsteps of utilities giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

About 50 angry residents staged a one-hour protest in front of TNB's headquarters and urged the premier to intervene in the matter.

The towers are part of TNB's plan to increase power supply in the aftermath of the major blackouts in the Klang Valley in 2005. The new power lines will carry 240KV from its current 33KV.

Residents however believe the electro magnetic field (EMF) generated by the power lines will adversely affect their health.

Bearing banners and decrying TNB's rejection of their proposals for alternative routes for the power transmission lines, the residents urged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to exercise his powers and order the towers to be moved to an alternative site.

"The villagers of Rawang New Village are here to demonstrate and to call on Abdullah to help us so that the high-tension cable towers are moved ," Tham Soh Lin, a member of the Rawang Action Committee against the High Tension Transmission Cable, told reporters during the protest.

While preliminary works on one tower started two weeks ago amidst protests and four arrests , further works continued this morning in Rawang New Village in preparations for another tower.

As in last last time, the TNB contractors at the construction site were today bolstered by a large presence of auxiliary police.

Technical problems

This afternoon, about 20 police officers and personnel from the Lembah Pantai police station were also on hand at the TNB building on Jalan Bangsar to oversee the demonstration and direct traffic.

While TNB has claimed the alternative routes would entail 'technical problems' - such as the proximity of a factory, shoplots, and a planned residential area - the villagers said this was belied by 'proof' to the contrary.

"What factory?! What shoplots?!" said Goh Ah Kow ( photo ), who heads the action committee as its chairperson, pointing to pictures of lush jungle and swaths of open land where they had proposed the alternative routes.

The villagers also remarked that TNB, which had also cited the need to protect a forest reserve in order to reject the alterative routes, seemed to care more for wildlife than the lives of the villagers.

"This large forest they don't want to touch, but the houses of people you are willing to demolish," said one villager raising a placard to the effect.

Watch the 2-minute video here .