PETALING JAYA : Food operators have been urged to keep thier premises clean in order to avoid 'visits' from rats, said the Mayor of Petaling Jaya Dato’ Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain at the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) headquarters, here, today.
He said that if eateries around Petaling Jaya maintain the cleanliness of their premises, rodent related issues would decrease tremendously.
The council launched a campaign called “Hapuskan Tikus” as a proactive step to demolish pests around Petaling Jaya.
The campaign would last for two weeks beginning today until Sept 20.
”If the area is clean , we don’t need to launch this campaign.
“But since we still have some affected areas especially markets and stalls that are unclean, causing more rats to breed, we are obligated to do so," the mayor said.
“Food operators need to throw food waste reponsibly and not in drains or walkways,” he said at the campaign launch.
Mohd Azizi said for 2018, around 53 complaints were received until August, compared to 70 complaints during the same period last year.
”The complaints received decreased by 24.28 percent and all the complaints were dealt with rat poison and mousetraps by the Vector Control Unit," he informed.
Meanwhile, 692 rats were caught in 2018, until August, compared to 1,345 during the same period last year.
He added that MBPJ would provide an incentive of RM3 per rat caught by contractors or food operators in their areas.
The PJ mayor also said if any food premises were found to be unclean, they would be slapped with a RM250 compound untill the premise achieved the MBPJ cleanliness standard.
The following are the eight locations in Petaling Jaya with the highest pest rates targeted for this campaign: Pasar Awam Sek 17/1A, Pasar Seri Setia SS9, Pasar Kg Cempaka, Pasar Taman Megah, Kompleks Pasar Taman Dato’ Harun, Pasar Besar Jalan Othman, Pasar Awam Sek 14 and Taman Selera Jalan Othman.
MBPJ also distributed mousetraps to food operators and contractors of the targeted areas.