Ops: City Hall collects RM6,480 from litterbugs
Published on: Wednesday, February 07, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
City Hall staff having a word with these ladies for the indiscriminate disposal of their cigarettes in the KK Plaza area.
CITY Hall has ramped up its crackdown on litterbugs at commercial centres and towns within its rating area, with 403 errant individuals collectively paying RM6,480 in compounds as part of the agency’s “Ops Bersih (Cleanliness Operations)” in January alone.
By comparison, a total of RM6,240 was amassed between October and December last year from 309 wrongdoers, during a similar exercise.
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A spokesman for City Hall’s Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) said 399 of those nabbed in January were smokers who had simply flicked their cigarette butts into their surroundings instead of making use of a bin.
SWMD staff taking this driver in the Sinsuran area to task for flicking his cigarette butt out of his car window.
“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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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.
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.
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“They will become liable to a fine for as much as RM 10,000, if they are found guilty in court.”
This smoker in the Centre Point area dumped his empty cigarette box and the butts in the planter box.
The spokesman said between two to five SWMD officers in plain clothes carried out 69 separate inspections between Jan 2-31.
These checks involved properties within the city centre, as well as those in areas ranging from Manggatal to Kepayan, according to him.
He said those in Kota Kinabalu, included the shophouses in Bandaran Berjaya, Kg Air, Asia City, Sinsuran and Segama, Centre Point Sabah and KK Plaza shopping complexes, premises along Jalan Pantai and Jalan Gaya, the Central Market and the Api-Api Centre.
“The highest number of wrongdoers was nabbed around Centre Point (103), followed by Kg Air (84) and Sinsuran (73).
“Many litter-bugs were also caught in the act around Bandaran Berjaya (69), as well as Api-Api (61) and Jalan Gaya (53).”
When it came to areas outside the city limits, the spokesman said the SWMD team went to the Indah Permai Shops, Sulaman Sentral, Manggatal Plaza, the Inanam Business Centre, Inanam Taipan, Inamam Point, EG Mall, Kingfisher Plaza, Likas Plaza, Sembulan, Sadong Jaya, Lido, the Kepayan Low Cost Housing, Yu Sang Shops and Damai Plaza.
Some proprietors, like this one, were compounded for piling up his unwanted items on the five-foot-way behind his shop.
“Both Sembulan and Kingfisher Plaza tied for the location with the most offenders, in this instance, with 13 litter-bugs each caught in these areas.
“This was followed by Damai Plaza with 11 wrongdoers and Inanam Taipan with another five.”
He 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.”
With this in mind, he said, the “Ops Bersih”-team had been asked to step up their surveillance of Kota Kinabalu and the outlying areas under the agency’s jurisdiction.
“On top of enforcing our Anti-Litter By-Laws, the team members have also been tasked with ensuring that business operators and shop owners comply with our Hygiene and Conservancy By-Laws.
“SWMD staff have been speaking to commercial ratepayers, where necessary, about what they can do to keep the public areas, including the five-foot ways, around their premises clean.”
The spokesman said RM6,240 had previously been accrued during the 90 inspections performed between Oct 3 to Dec 25.
About RM540 was received from 27 wrong-doers during the nine checks in
October, RM2,440 from some 118 during the 30 checks in November and RM3,260 from 164 others during the 51 inspections conducted this month, according to him.
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