The Star, Saturday September 1, 2012

MPKj urges public to give evidence of litterbugs caught in the act

IN A bid to encourage the public to come forward with evidence of litterbugs caught in the act, the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) has increased its reward from RM200 to RM500 for successful cases.

At the council’s monthly full board meeting, council president Datuk Hasan Nawawi Abdul Rahman said the council decided to increase the reward due to the lack of response.

“Hopefully, the reward will encourage more people to come forward with evidence of indiscriminate dumping.

“The reward will be given if the culprits are successfully charged,” he said.

In another development, councillor P. Narayanan suggested that summonses be issued to contractors who under-perform, causing the area to be a breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes.

“Usually it is the residents who are issued with a fine. However, in many cases, the source of breeding is outside their premises.

“There has been 11 deaths in Selangor due to dengue outbreaks, including three in Kajang,” he said.

In reply, MPKj Town and Health Services Department director Arshad Salleh said, “It is not right to put the blame solely on the contractor if the public dumps rubbish indiscriminately, such as throwing rubbish out from the car.

“There must be a joint effort,” he said.

Councillor Mohammad Ali Khair Abdul Ghafar suggested for the council to come up with a guideline for gated and guarded (companies) to not ask for identity cards from council officers in office vehicles.

“When our officers need to enter (the residential area), they were asked for identification cards or official letter.

“Even when we went in the council car, they stopped us.

“It is not just the foreign workers but our Malaysian security guards too,” he said.

Fellow councillor Steven Chan said the guards have a right to ask non-residents to identify themselves when accessing gated areas but do not if the area is just guarded.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Hasan said, “Maybe council officers who are (on official duty) in council vehicles need not register at the guard post.

“However, others need to do so as there are many imposters. What is the point of having a guard if they do not need to check those who enter the area?”