KUCHING: The Kuching South City Council (MBKS) has given a ten-day notice to six hawkers who have been selling fish illegally at the roadside at Jalan Sungai Padungan, Petanak here to move out from the area this Friday.
MBKS Mayor, Dato James Chan Khay Syn said the hawkers, who have been operating in the area for many years, were given the notices last Tuesday (21 March) to stop trading by the roadside this Friday
“We have been trying our best to think of how to solve this issue. In fact, five years ago my enforcement team had told them not to ply their trade by there and also fined them,” he said after chairing the full council meeting here yesterday.
Chan said with hawkers trading by the roadside, their actions might contribute to certain risks that would affect their safety.
“I have asked my enforcement team to talk to them (hawkers) and asked them to co-operate with us. There are proper places for them to do their business.
“By 31 March they have to move out. They cannot trade by the roadside. We have also conducted a survey among the people in Kuching and they are behind us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chairman for Market and Petty Traders standing committee, Councillor Goh Tze Hui said, “Definitely we would like them to move out. We have suggested several places where they can trade, but unfortunately they rejected them.
“As for the vacant spaces at Medan Niaga under Federal Agriculture and Marketing Authority (FAMA), only two of them agreed to move there,” he said.
Goh added that he have received many complaints from the public on the hygiene and dangers of trading by the roadside.
“The (illegal hawkers) did not clean up the place properly before leaving the area. They even leave their iceboxes on the pedestrian path and acted as if they the place belonged to them.
“Two weeks ago, during our meeting, we decided to issue the notices to these hawkers, telling them to move out from that area by 31 March,” he said.
