Kacang puteh seller may get a second bite

Gone to waste: Janaki sitting by the roadside after enforcement officers from Ipoh City Council prevented her from doing business.

IPOH: A kacang puteh seller whose snacks were pictured strewn on the ground outside the Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun here as she sat dejectedly by the roadside may get a reprieve.

Ipoh City Council (MBI) secretary Mohd Zakuan Zakaria said he had asked a city councillor to meet S. Selvajanaki, 41, and discuss her situation.

Mohd Zakuan said they could not let anyone just trade anywhere, especially in a hospital area.

Selvajanaki’s (pix) story went viral when a Facebook user posted a picture of her struggling with her snacks that were strewn on the ground.

College student Nuruddin Abdul Mujid, who uploaded the image, had implied that MBI was being cruel towards those who were trying to earn a living.

MBI called for a press conference yesterday, together with the hospital’s visitors board and Nuruddin.

Nuruddin, 19, gave a different version this time, saying it was Selvajanaki who had thrown the kacang puteh on the road. He said he was overcome with emotion when he saw her crying.

Selvajanaki claimed the kacang puteh fell after a scuffle with MBI officers. She said it was not the officers who threw her kacang puteh, claiming however, that they had been rough and she was only protecting her wares.

The hospital’s visitors board chairman Datuk Omar Ahmad said there were many illegal traders in the area.