With the Mid-Autumn Festival just around the corner, the Housing Department (HD) reminds residents living in Public Rental Housing (PRH) estates to handle lighted candles with care and to keep the estates clean, in order to ensure a safe and joyful celebration.
An HD spokesman reminds residents today (September 13) to not litter or boil wax in public places of PRH estates, as both flames and melted wax can pose a risk of injury. Boiling wax may cause fires and severe burns. Therefore, parents should educate their children on the proper handling of flames and prevent them from boiling wax.
According to the Estate Management Marking Scheme (Marking Scheme), littering or boiling wax in a PRH estate is a misdeed attributable to the allotment of penalty points immediately without warning. Residents committing these misdeeds may also contravene relevant ordinances and can be fined $3,000 at the same time.
"Although issues of littering or wax boiling caused by PRH residents during the Mid-Autumn Festival have significantly improved in the past, we will continue to step up our patrols this year. When patrol staff discover minors boiling wax, verbal warnings will be given to them. If they refuse to stop the misdeeds, we will approach their parents for follow-up actions. The household concerned may be subject to an allotment of penalty points under the Marking Scheme, and the tenancy will be terminated if 16 points or more are allotted within two years," the spokesman stressed.
Apart from routine checks by estate offices, staff members from the HD's Regional Patrol Teams and Mobile Operations Unit will be deployed to patrol PRH estates beyond midnight for three consecutive days from Monday (September 16) to Wednesday (September 18).
Messages for urging tenants to not litter or boil wax and to keep the estates clean have been publicised through posters, the Housing Channel and more. Additional cleaning workers will be deployed to clean up early in the morning following the festival day.
The spokesman called for PRH residents' support in keeping the estates clean and encouraged them to report any misdeeds to estate offices or the Housing Authority Hotline on 2712 2712.
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