New initiatives for Ramadan vendors

A customer using MPSJ’s reusable bag to buy food at a Ramadan bazaar. — Filepic

Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) has assigned 23 Ramadan bazaar sites with 1,810 stalls in total this year.

Of these, 16 locations are under the purview of MPSJ while the remaining seven, which are clustered Ramadan bazaar locations, are managed by a different entity.

For the first time, the local council introduced a Ramadan food truck bazaar which takes place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 4pm to 8pm, until June 2.

MPSJ is continuing its no polystyrene campaign, which it introduced in 2014 at the Ramadan bazaars, and which was fully enforced in 2016.

The council also introduced a new initiative to help traders to continue their businesses after Ramadan by launching the e-Borong (e-Wholesale) and GO2 Sales Help after Raya programme last month.

The e-Borong initiative is a collaboration by the council’s Licensing Department with Best Marketing and Distribution Sdn Bhd to encourage traders to use the online wholesale platform to order and purchase halal and quality products at a lower price. They would also be entitled to free delivery. This year will see MPSJ continuing the exemplary Ramadan bazaar vendors award.

Fifteen exemplary vendors will be awarded appreciation certificates, hampers, RM300 incentive, waiver of next year’s Ramadan bazaar permit, and a chance to apply for a bazaar lot of their choice for next year’s Ramadan.

Last month, MPSJ held a seminar for vendors where they were advised to adhere to the rules and regulations while running their business.

They were briefed on how they could qualify for the exemplary vendor programme, which takes into account the vendor’s compliance with licence and health criteria, cleanliness, stall creativity and being free from enforcement actions.

MPSJ also launched the Free Straws Campaign. There are 236 stalls selling drinks this Ramadan.

The council’s licensing director Muhammad Azli Miswan said there was no need for vendors to provide straws at the bazaars and they should only give if customers ask for it.

“During Ramadan, there is no need to offer straws. We are not prohibiting the use of straws, just reducing the use of straws,” he said.

Muhammad Azli said there were no cases of lots that were sublet to non-permit holders last year.

“We monitor Ramadan bazaars every day. If we find people who have sublet their lot, we will terminate their permit and blacklist them,” he said.

Muhammad Azli added that there were cases of vendors who had foreign assistance at their stall last year but MPSJ would continue to monitor and take action should there be such violations this year.