Over QR5 million collected in fines under hygiene law

The Ministry of Municipality and the Environment represented by the General Cleanliness Department has collected over QR5.6 million in fines from offenders of the hygiene law and recorded about 4,691 violations since the law went into effect in February 2018 until the end of January 2019.

Director of the General Cleanliness Department, Safar Mubarak Al Shafi highlighted, “The Ministry developed a plan to monitor the violations of cleanliness through the use of surveillance cameras at the National Command Center (NCC) of the Ministry of Interior.”

#MME represented by the General Hygiene Department issued 4691 violation reports against the violators of the #CleanlinessLaw during the period from Feb 2018 to Feb 2019 since the implementation of the Law. The collected amounts of fines at this period reached QR5,612,560.#Qatar pic.twitter.com/VRCys7l2dx

— Baladiya (@Baladiya1) March 17, 2019

A dedicated team of Ministry officials monitors the violations at the control rooms of NCC, Al Shafi said, adding that as the law came into force hygiene violations reduced significantly.

These violations included the dumping of waste in a non-civilized manner by some individuals on the roads and the public streets and cities, as well as the disposal of personal waste, cigarette butts and spitting, among others, Al Shafi listed, as reported by Gulf Times.

He added that the regular patrolling carried out by the General Directorate of Traffic to monitor violations of the law helped in reducing the careless attitude of some individuals.

An awareness campaign, Keep it Clean, which was launched earlier in 2019, focuses on raising awareness about the hygiene law across all segments of the society, Al Shafi underlined, adding that the campaign facilitates public participation and cooperation with the Ministry.

Under the awareness-raising campaign at least 638 billboards on roadsides and banners have been placed at the facilities of the government services complexes, municipalities, medical commission, Kahramaa, Karwa buildings, some shopping complexes like Lulu Hypermarkets, medical centers, Karwa Driving School, bus stands and Mall of Qatar, reported The Peninsula.

“Five video footage carrying awareness messages were aired at Qatar TV, Al Rayyan TV and voice messages on local radios in three languages. Cinema halls also run the similar messages to aware the audiences about hygiene rules,” Al Shafi mentioned.  

The focus of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment was not fine collection but rather the purpose was to curb the violations of the law in an endeavor to ensure public hygiene, Al Shafi explained.

He stressed that all segments of the society should participate in the campaign by cooperating with the Department in maintaining public hygiene and playing their role in protecting the environment.

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Cover Image Credit: Qatar Tribune