Maggot trick prompts action

Maggot trick prompts action

BEKASI (JP): Tired of complaining about the authorities'
inaction? Send them parcels of maggots. It might just do the
trick.

At least, that's how the piles of trash, that have been
growing for months, in the Kranji Baru market were eventually
cleaned away on Tuesday, so local traders claim.

They said that some of their colleagues have been sending
parcels of maggots, anonymously of course, to the office of the
Unit Pasar, the local agency that manages markets in the Bekasi
township, with a note urging them to remove the heaps of rubbish
that have been collecting just outside Kranji Baru market.

The traders say the trash has deterred residents, from nearby
Perumnas I housing complex, from coming and shopping at the
market. The sight and the smell from the heap combine to put off
potential shoppers, they said.

Complaints lodged with Unit Pasar have gone largely ignored,
until last Tuesday, when the agency sent its workers to work all
day and night to clear away the heaps of rubbish.

But Kranji Baru is not the only market that has this problem.
Most other markets managed by the town's administration appear to
have the same problem -- accumulation of uncollected trash.
Traders at markets in Tambun, Babelan, Cibitung and Bantargebang
say they have similar complaints.

Officials privately say that the authorities do not have
enough trash trucks to cover the entire township. In addition,
the area still does not have its own garbage dump.

This is an irony, residents find, given that Bekasi has
allocated 100 hectares of its land for a garbage dump for
neighboring Jakarta. (12)