ILLEGAL HAWKING (Increased Enforcement Action)

Dr Koh Lam Son asked the Minister for the Environment whether there has been an increase in the number of offenders booked for illegal hawking in line with his Ministry's recent call for public alertness following the increase in the number of cholera cases.

Dr Ahmad Mattar: The Ministry has stepped up enforcement action against illegal hawkers since late last year, for several reasons.

The main reason is public health. More than 80% of the cooked food sold by illegal hawkers have been found to be unfit for human consumption. The Ministry is concerned that contaminated food sold by illegal hawkers could be one of the sources of food borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Another reason for the stepped up action is because of complaints from shopkeepers and licensed hawkers. Illegal hawkers plying on the streets and housing estates have taken away much of the businesses of shopkeepers and licensed hawkers.

There are other nuisances caused by illegal hawkers, such as littering, noise and obstruction to traffic.

From January to July this year, officers from the Ministry of the Environment and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) issued a total of 10,664 summonses to illegal hawkers and seized 93.9 tonnes of cooked food/fruits/market produce sold by them. For the same period, last year, the number of summonses is 8,757 and the tonnage seized is 63.9 tonnes.

The Ministry set up a telephone hot-line on 13 June 1987. Up to 24 August 1987, a total of 1,210 complaints were received from members of the public.

Feedback from members of the public have been most useful. The information received enabled enforcement teams from my Ministry and HDB to take swift action.