Sembulan, Kg Air eateries compounded for litter offences
Published on: Saturday, April 24, 2021
By: Sidney Skinner
Health Dept staff issuing a notice in the Bornion area, while City Hall inspectors look on.
City Hall issued a total of RM400 in compounds, under it’s Anti Litter Bylaw, during a check of eateries in Sembulan and the Kg Air area of the State Capital earlier this week.A spokeswoman for the agency’s Health and Environment Department (HED) said a coffee-shop operator was asked to pay RM300 for soiling the parking lots behind the premises.
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“Our staff found that liquid waste from the kitchen was being indiscriminately dumped onto the road,” she said.
“A patron at another eatery received a RM100 compound for dirtying the five-foot way where he was sitting.”
She said this action was taken during an anti-smoking exercise which was carried out by City Hall and the Kota Kinabalu Health Office (KKHO).
The spokeswoman said a team of 24 personnel from both agencies were involved in the crackdown which covered eight premises.
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The KKHO apparently upbraided six individuals, at the time, for contravening The Control of Tobacco Products Regulation 2004 (Amendment 2018), according to her.
“Five ‘notis kesalahan’ (notices of offence) were issued to those caught smoking where this was prohibited, while another was given to a proprietor for allowing this to take place inside his/ her eatery.”
A Sembulan eatery owner was compounded for soiling the road behind his shop.
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Smoking is not allowed in all eateries, be they air-conditioned or not, under The Control of Tobacco Products Regulation.
The same also applies for outdoor premises, including road-side stalls and open-air hawker centres.
The Regulation stipulates that smokers are only permitted to light up about three metres away from these establishments.
Those caught puffing within a ‘No-Smoking” zone can be slapped with a RM250 compound, per this ordinance.
Should they be taken to court, smokers risk being fined up to RM10,000, serving a two-year jail sentence or both.
Eatery-operators, meanwhile, face the possibility of having to settle a RM2,500 fine for failing to ensure that no one lit up in their premises.
The Regulation requires proprietors to put up No-Smoking posters inside their shops.
These disclaimers should be at least 40cm x 50cm in measurement.
The spokeswoman said the inspection in Sembulan and Kg Air was the second such crackdown on smoking violations, which the agency had participated in this month.
A similar exercise was carried out a week earlier at the Bornion Commercial Centre, in Luyang, according to her.
“A smoker received a notice of offence in this instance,” she said.
She said three HED staff and two KKHO personnel collaborated to check on 10 eateries in the area.
City Hall’s action, on this occasion, followed feedback from a Luyang hawker about the unpleasant experience he had when he tried to stop a patron from smoking.
XANDER, who rents a space inside a coffee-shop to sell chicken rice, said he got into a heated exchange with one of the eatery’s customers last month.
“The smoker refused to snub out his cigarette,” he said. “He turned around and asked me why he should do so.”
“When I explained that smoking was not allowed inside the coffee-shop, he got angry with me.”
The chicken-rice seller said the exchange caused him much embarrassment as the argument drew a small crowd of onlookers.
He said this was not the first time that someone had lit up near his stall.
“This has been going on for a long time. In December, I made a report to the Health Department about this problem.
“By the end of March, when no action was forthcoming, I went back to the same office in Sembulan.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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