HAWKERS SUMMONED ON CHINESE NEW YEAR'S EVE

The following question stood in the name of Mr Goh Choon Kang -

Mr Goh Choon Kang: To ask the Minister for the Environment (a) how how many licensed hawkers were summoned for "spill-over" of goods at their stalls on 4th February, 1989 (Chinese New Year's Eve) and where; and (b) how many illegal hawkers were summoned on the same day and where.

Mr Teo Chong Tee (Changi): Question No. 4, Sir.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment (Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng) (for the Minister for the Environment): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am answering on behalf of my Minister.

Every Lunar New Year period, the Hawkers Department gives a concession to stallholders in hawker centres to display their goods beyond their stalls, so long as extensions do not cause obstruction to other stallholders or inconvenience the public. However, no stallholder is allowed to set up stalls outside of the hawker centre proper. If he sets up stalls on the road or public concourse, then he will be given a summons for illegal hawking.

Sir, on the 4th February 1989, that is, Chinese New Year's Eve, no licensed hawkers were summoned for displaying goods beyond their stalls. This includes hawkers at the Lim Tua Tow Market. A total of 38 illegal hawkers were summoned for selling goods at various places on the 4th February 1989. 19 of them were found selling outside various markets.

Mr Teo Chong Tee: If no hawker was fined on Lunar New Year's Eve for extension of stall, how does he account for the raid and exorbitant fine on hawkers at Lim Tua Tow Market, as mentioned in this House by the Senior Parliamentary Secretary some days ago?

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng: Sir, the point raised by the Member for Braddell Heights in Parliament on 16th March 1989 was that for three consecutive days during the Lunar New Year our officers raided the Lim Tua Tow Market and issued summonses to stallholders who had extended their stalls.

Sir, may I have your permission to clarify that the Ministry did not issue any summons against stallholders in the Lim Tua Tow Market for extension of stalls during the three days preceding the Lunar New Year. In fact, Members of this House may wish to know that no single summons was issued to stallholders at this market for extension of stalls for 11 clear days before the Lunar New Year. However, three illegal hawkers operating outside the Lim Tua Tow Market were summoned on the eve of Chinese New Year. These three illegal hawkers were not licensed stallholders in the Lim Tua Tow Market. They were there actually to take the business away from the licensed stallholders.

Sir, the Member for Braddell Heights also informed the House on 16th March that one of the Lim Tua Tow stallholders was fined $800 for extension. Sir, our records show that the highest fine imposed by the court on a stallholder in the Lim Tua Tow Market is $500, and not $800. The stallholder was fined $500 for massive extension on the 24th January 1989 and not on Chinese New Year's Eve because he is recalcitrant - having been fined by the courts on two previous occasions for similar offence of grossly extending his stall and blocking almost the entire passageway, causing gross inconvenience to members of the public. We do not single out any market for special treatment, especially the Lim Tua Tow Market for enforcement action on extension of stalls.

During the last six months, a total of 69 stallholders from 21 other markets/food centres were summoned for extending their stalls. But during the last six months, four stallholders at Lim Tua Tow Market, including the two recalcitrants, were summoned for extending their stalls.