BY PRIYA MENON

Recent MBSA raids have revealed a lackadaisical attitude among restaurant operators towards maintaining cleanliness of their premises. — filepic

RESTAURATEURS had better keep their premises clean as the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) is mulling over the suggestion by councillors to increase the fine on dirty eateries from the current RM300.

During the full board meeting yesterday, the councillors had unanimously agreed to reconsider the current fine and compound charges as too many premises had been found dirty lately.

Some of them even suggested tightening the laws pertaining to unclean eateries to which Shah Alam mayor Datuk Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad said the existing laws were sufficient.

He, however, said the council would study the suggestions to increase the compound amount to prevent lackadaisical attitudes from food operators.

He said most restaurants only maintained cleanliness for a week after the health officers dropped by.

“It would be nice to see them emulate the areas in Section 2 that have been turned into works of art and are very clean. I suggest we continuously conduct checks until they are clean enough to be made examples for other areas,” he added.

The topic on cleanliness at eateries in Shah Alam was discussed for more than 20 minutes by the councillors who raised several issues including rodent menace, clogged drains and cockroach infestation.

During the meeting, councillors were also briefed on a new smartphone application that allowed motorists to use a virtual parking ticket at MBSA parking lots.

The virtual ticket replicates the existing physical one but allowed the users to purchase parking tickets for their vehicles upfront.

Users can log in and select the number of hours required and top-up the value should they exceed the time limit.

Enforcement officers only need to key in the vehicle number to check if the motorist had paid parking fees for the required duration.

The system is already being used by the Sepang and Kuala Langat councils.

This new flexi-parking system will be operational in January.

In a related matter, Ahmad Zaharin said the city council had received new electric vehicles meant to promote its low-carbon city agenda.

In the pipeline are two electric buses operating along the Smart Selangor Bus routes and additional routes sanctioned by the state transportation committee.

[slider id='81590' name='StarProperty' size='full']