Dubai: With a view to keeping the roads clean, Dubai Municipality has launched a ten-day campaign that will focus on sending the message across to the general public against littering, spitting or throwing cigarette butts on the road.
Apart from school and college students, the civic body has taken on board taxi drivers to help spread its message.
Local Order No 11 of 2003 prohibits littering on roads and stipulates a fine of Dh500 for the offence. Fines for making city roads dirty range between Dh100 and Dh50,000 and can be doubled for repeat violations.
"Our goal is to make people aware and not to impose fines on them. We want to tell them that they should keep the roads clean and through this campaign we are trying to take this message to a large number of people," said Abdul Majid Saifee, director, Waste Management Department of Dubai Municipality.
Taxi drivers are undergoing awareness sessions about the importance of keeping the roads clean and being handed flyers and other awareness material aimed at their passengers.
The campaign will tell people how discarded items or even a carelessly thrown cigarette butt could pose a threat to life besides being environmentally hazardous. The costs of subsequent clean-ups and disposal operations and the poor image of the city they project are also being highlighted.
"Apart from littering, we are also telling people not to throw cigarette butts on roads as these can be very dangerous," said Hamda Al Murr, head of the Awareness Team with the Waste Management Department.
Lectures, workshops, film screenings, awareness drives for road users and visitors, competitions and other activities will be organised as part of the campaign.
Special awareness programmes will be conducted in collaboration with Dubai Taxi and Galadari Driving Institute. Al Jazeera University, Salma Al Ansariya School, Asma Bint Abu Bakr School, Creative Model School and many other educational institutions will empower the campaign through various events.
