Traders blame migrant workers for rubbish in Central Market-Kota Raya area
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — Rubbish here, rubbish there, rubbish everywhere!
That’s what city folk returning from the Aidilfitri holiday found, at least in the Central Market and Kota Raya Complex areas.
While the city dwellers returned to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the festival, migrant workers chose to idle away their time at shopping complexes and bus shelters, and are blamed for the rubbish.
A check by Bernama found heaps of rubbish along five-foot paths in the Central Market and Kota Raya Complex areas, making pedestrian traffic difficult.
Food stall operator Siti Salmah Ahmad, 41, said she had to clean up the immediate vicinity of her stall near Central Market.
“The refuse bins are full. We, traders, have had to clean up the area because the rubbish collectors have not turned up. From our observation, the migrant workers seem to be the ones who have discarded the rubbish as they queued up to board buses during the Aidilfitri holiday,” she said.
Bus conductor Hamid Ahmad Zain, 37, blamed migrant workers for the filth teeming with flies in the Central Market area.
“At times, I am harassed by the flies and mosquitoes as I go about my work. Some places near the refuse bins give off a horrible stench, causing many passengers to complain about the uncollected rubbish,” he said.
Even foreign tourists on their way to nearby shopping malls and bus shelters have expressed disappointment over the lack of cleanliness.
Russian tourist Alexander Pone, 22, said he was disappointed at the lack of cleanliness in the city, adding that even foreign tourists themselves were discarding rubbish everywhere.
“It is very disappointing. They (tourists) throw rubbish anywhere, even where the dustbins are provided. I have not seen cleaners these few days,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hamid Hattan, a supervisor of waste management company Alam Flora Sdn Bhd, said 21 contract workers had been deployed to clean up the Central Market area from the first day of Aidilfitri on Sunday.
“Eight workers were deployed from 6am to 1pm, five from 2pm to 5pm and eight from 6pm to 5am the following day,” he told Bernama.
He blamed migrant workers for the rubbish discarded in the Central Market and Kota Raya Complex areas on the first and second days of Aidilfitri.
“Usually, our workers do the cleaning up daily, and the piles of rubbish are not as bad as they were yesterday and today.
“Although we had instructed our contract workers to clean up, the irresponsible attitude of the migrant workers has contributed to the problem,” he said. — Bernama
