RM3,020 collected in anti-litterbug op
Published on: Friday, April 12, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
This Telipok shop operator was warned for illegally occupying the pavement behind his premises and compounded for flicking his cigarette into his surroundings.
LITTERBUGS at commercial centres and towns within City Hall’s rating area collectively paid RM3,020 in on-the-spot compounds issued as part of the agency’s “Ops Bersih (Cleanliness Operations)” over the past two months.
A spokesman for the agency’s Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) said RM2,300 was accrued in February and a further RM720 in March.
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He said the wrongdoers were all were seen disposing of their cigarette butts indiscriminately.
“A total of 193 smokers were caught by our officers between February and March,” he said.
A smoker at the Taman Putera Jaya shops receives a compound for haphazardly disposing of his cigarette butt.
“About 150 of them settled their compounds right away, while 43 others elected to do this within the allotted grace-period.”
A compound of up to RM500 could be imposed against anyone found to be contravening City Hall’s Anti-Litter ByLaws 1984 (Amendment 2005), according to him.
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He said those who repeatedly disregarded the agency’s calls to refrain from littering in the common areas could wind up having legal action taken against them.
“They will become liable to a fine for as much as RM 10,000, if they are found guilty in court.”
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He said four to five SWMD inspectors in plain clothes carried out 54 separate inspections between February 5 and March 22.
These checks involved properties within the City Centre, as well as those in areas ranging from Telipok to Lido, according to him.
He said those in Kota Kinabalu, included the shophouses in Bandaran Berjaya, Kg Air, Asia City, Sinsuran and Segama, as well as Centre Point Sabah.
“The highest number of litterbugs was nabbed around Centre Point (28), followed by Bandaran Berjaya (14), Kg Air (6) and Asia City (4).”
A SWMD staff takes a smoker in the Bandaran Berjaya area to task.
When it came to areas outside the city limits, the spokesman said the SWMD team went to Sadong Jaya, Tanjung Aru, the Foh Sang shops, Damai Point, Damai Plaza, the Taman Sinar Baru shops, the Taman Chempaka shops, Lido, the Taman Fortuna shops, the Taman Mesra shops, the Taman Bunga Raja shops, Wisma Kosan, Likas Plaza, Mini Putrajaya, Kingfisher Plaza, the Inanam Business Centre, Inanam town, Alam Mesra, University Plaza, Manggatal town, the Indah Permai shops, Sulaman Sental, the Putera Jaya shops and Telipok town.
“Mini Putrajaya was the location with the most offenders, in this instance, with 17 litter-bugs caught in this area.
“This was followed by the Indah Permai shops and Kingfisher Plaza, where 12 errant individuals each were nabbed. Eleven others were taken to task around the Telipok town and nine in the Sadong Jaya area.”
He said a proprietor at the Taman Chempaka shops was compounded for piling up his/ her unwanted belongings in the common area behind his/ her premises.
A member of the ‘Ops Bersih’-team speaks to these workers about the building material placed on this Sadong Jaya pavement.
“Two others – one from the Sadong Jaya area and another at the Taman Putera Jaya shops – received a stern warning for illegally occupying the five-footway near their units.”
The spokesman said City Hall had been coming down hard on littering violations in a bid to get the public to take a more active role in keeping the State Capital clean.
“It is not just up to our garbage collectors and street-sweepers to keep the commercial properties around our rating-area looking presentable and pleasing to the eye, especially to the many first time visitors from abroad.
“It is the collective responsibility of everyone who lives, works and frequents these locales.”
In January, the “Ops Bersih”-team compounded a total of 403 litterbugs from whom City Hall collected RM6,480, according to the spokesman.
He said 399 of those nabbed in that month were smokers who had simply flicked their cigarette butts into their surroundings instead of making use of a bin.
“Four offenders were taken to task for indiscriminately disposing of their garbage in the common area,” he said.
“Some of this number were shop-operators who were piling up their unwanted items on the five-foot-way outside their units.”
He said 329 of the litterbugs settled their compounds on-the-spot, while 74 others were given a grace-period in which to do so.”
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