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The Housing Department will assign special squads to crack down on illegal cooked food hawking at public rental housing (PRH) estates during the Lunar New Year holidays.
Eight special teams with about 60 members will be deployed to patrol PRH estates between Thursday (February 7) and Sunday (February 10). The teams will work in shifts to deal with the hawker blackspots in various districts including Upper and Lower Wong Tai Sin Estates near Wong Tai Sin Temple and Sun Chui Estate near Che Kung Miu in Sha Tin.
Unlicensed hawkers, especially those selling cooked food, were usually more active during Lunar New Year holidays, when many restaurants and eateries closed, the Assistant Director of Housing (Estate Management), Mr Lee Cert-quinn, said today (February 5).
Mr Lee called on PRH tenants not to patronise these hawkers not only because the food hygiene was very worrying but the activities also caused serious obstruction and environmental nuisance to the public. He urged tenants with any information on such activities to report to the estate office.
He said "illegal hawking of cooked food" was a misdeed under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement, carrying seven penalty points allotment without warning. So far 35 PRH households have been allotted points for the misdeed.
Under the marking scheme, when 16 points have been allotted to a household within two years, the subject tenancy will be terminated.
Ends/Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:06
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