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Vivian Balakrishnan, Sylvia Lim trade barbs over hawker cleaning saga

Vivian Balakrishnan, Sylvia Lim trade barbs over hawker cleaning saga. (Yahoo! photos)

Drama spiced up Parliament proceedings Tuesday when Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan accused members of the Workers' Party of lying over the issue of the cleaning of hawker centres in a constituency overseen by the opposition group.

Balakrishnan said Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh, chairman and vice-chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), respectively, made “false” and “untruthful” statements.

He alleged that AHPETC had denied responsibility to clean high areas in the hawker centres located in Blocks 511 and 538 in Bedok North, and tried to levy additional charges on hawkers, although town councils are responsible for cleaning commercial property in housing estates under HDB.

Balakrishnan said a group of hawkers had emailed a property manager of the town council to confirm the spring cleaning of the hawker centres. They were told to liaise with the National Environment Agency (NEA) as “spring cleaning is a practice set by NEA”.

Lim, who is also chairman of WP, then stood up and observed that the minister “made very serious allegations”.

She questioned why Balakrishnan brought up the issue when the context was about spring cleaning.

She acknowledged that the town council was obliged to clean high areas at least once a year, but that annual and spring cleaning were not the same.

To this, Balakrishnan retorted that Lim should not "beat around the bush".

Lim also denied that at any point in time did the property manager, Tai Vie Shun, ask for extra money to be paid to the town council for high-area cleaning.

The AHPETC earlier cited an email by NEA indicating that the hawkers would have to make arrangements with contractors on scaffolding during spring cleaning.

Lim then said there were no charges to be paid mentioned, not by AHPETC, or in the property manager’s emails.

Balakrishnan then asked his clerk to distribute a dossier for those in Parliament.

The minister pointed to page 7 of the dossier, which showed a quotation made by ATL maintenance, the town council’s contractor, to the hawkers, stating that the cleaning of high areas would cost S$7,200.

It also stated that the cleaning of unreachable spots would not be provided and that the hawkers needed to bear additional costs.

Balakrishnan then roped Workers’ Party’s secretary-general Low Thia Khiang into the debate.

The minister told the opposition party chief he could not let the issue go because “it is not about the cleanliness of the ceiling, it is about clean politics”.

He urged Low to investigate the emails before AHPETC makes an “announcement which is wrong in fact”.

Low then stood up and said “somebody must have asked ATL maintenance to quote. If not, they won’t quote”.

The WP secretary-general added that “AHPETC is not mentioned in the quotation”.

Low also suggested including annual cleaning in the quarterly spring cleaning, to which Balakrishnan agreed .

Balakrishnan ended the argument by saying “politics is the contest for power”, but “don’t take advantage when you make mistakes, just say so.”

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