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participants and based on this assessment, a sufficient number of litter containers will be provided at strategic locations at the venue concerned. Furthermore, anti-littering notices and posters will usually be displayed at conspicuous places to raise public awareness. A broadcasting van is often similarly deployed for such purposes in suitable locations such as near Statue Square on Sundays and bank holidays.
In the vicinity of City Hall and Edinburgh Place in Central District where large crowds gather on Sundays and Public Holidays, special U.S.D. enforcement teams consisting of cleansing supervisory staff will be deployed to patrol the areas and to book litter offenders whenever they are detected. Staff of the Leisure Services Branch will also take concerted action outside Chater Garden and Statue Square.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, with regard to prosecution action, does it include prosecution against people who play with candles and pollute our venues near the Mid-Autumn Festival? This not only causes serious pollution problem, but also poses a threat to safety. I wonder if stringent enforcement action has been taken by the Department.
MR. CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):- I don't think the Department has taken actions in this area. I am very concerned about this myself and I will bring this up at the Public Health Select Committee. In particular, I will bring this up at the Keep Hong Kong Clean Committee with the Regional Council and see how we can step up enforcement action in this area.
If the past experience is anything to go by, prosecution action during the Mid-Autumn Festival will spoil the atmosphere. Therefore, Departmental staff usually will not take prosecution action at parks or beaches during the Festival so as not to spoil the fun of the people. Of course, we do hope members of the public would abide by the law. And every year we do a lot of publicity before the Festival and hand out leaflets to members of the public to remind them of the need to keep the parks and beaches clean. Unfortunately, the results were invariably disappointing as, after the Festival, the parks and beaches have obviously turned into dumping grounds. We are very concerned about this problem and the Public Health Select Committee will follow up on this and make improvements.
MR. CHAN CHOI-HI (in Cantonese):- As can be seen from the figures, there are just too many litterbugs in Hong Kong. Can the Chairman tell me whether the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign has turned out to be a failure, and will there be any good solution to the problem in future?
MR. CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):- Whether the Keep Clean Hong Kong Campaign is a success or failure is an open question. It cannot be considered to be a complete failure, yet it is far from the standard of a total success. Things could have been worse if we did not launch the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign. So we should not give up the Campaign because of the present situation.
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