Councillors are getting increasingly crabby about waste food being dumped in neighbourhoods attracting vermin, stray dogs and Bahrain’s infamous fat seagulls.
The latest incident involves piles of leftover seafood and Northern Municipal councillors are determined to crack down on the offenders.
“Now we are seeing the remains of crabs and seafood thrown out,” said technical committee chairman Abdullah Al Qubaisi. “This is having a negative impact on the community and we need to find ways to deter people otherwise the situation is only going to get worse.”
Councillors have discussed taking immediate action in collaboration with the Northern Municipality which includes violators being punished with hefty fines, alongside increased signage to raise awareness of the consequences people face if they carry on spoiling the environment.
A proposal, which has been referred to Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf for review also includes designated specified areas for the proper disposal of leftover food.
“There is a clear violation of a law in place and the previous proposal we approved was a review of the matter in terms of providing a service … but we have now looked at it from a legal point of view,” said council’s financial, administrative and legislative committee chairwoman Zaina Jassim.
“A widespread awareness campaign has become a necessity and there are clear locations in each constituency where the food is being dumped and the municipality must take action.
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Mr Al Qubaisi believes many people do not fully understand or appreciate the repercussions of dumping leftover food in residential neighbourhoods. It can result in fines of between BD50 and BD300.
Unless the matter is addressed, he believes, the government will ‘never be able to control the issue of stray animals’.
“If left unaddressed it will be an environmental disaster with areas full of rodents, pests, insects and strays, as well as the risk of other diseases,” he said.
“We have previously addressed the issue of birds that are feasting on piles of leftover Machboos that have become too fat to fly. Now we are seeing leftover crabs and seafood all over the place.”
Meanwhile, Northern Municipality director general Lamya Al Fadhala assured councillors that an awareness plan is underway in a bid to stamp out the practice with a series of pincer movements – education and action.
She revealed that a comprehensive project to get the authority’s claws into the problem would require a budget and moves are underway to carry out a full strategy across the governorate.
“We are working on this and we need help in identifying the most problematical places as there are around 50 locations and targeting them all would require time and a budget,” she told councillors.
“A comprehensive plan is underway as we want to create signs with a unified design and clear images highlighting the violations and punishments in order to capture people’s attention.
“We are also planning to ensure these signs come in different languages to reach the entire community. All these efforts take time as we want to do an exceptional job and not just something haphazard and random.
“If we are provided by the key locations from the councillors we can make them a priority.”
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