Al Ain residents told not to dry laundry in public

Al Ain: Residents, who hang their laundry in public view, such as on balconies, windows, or streets, will be fined in the Oasis City, as the civic administration has launched a campaign to remove objects tarnishing the city's image.

Officials of Al Ain Municipality have caught 46 offenders, who were reportedly violating the municipal rules, in the past four days.

"It's not allowed to put clothes on balconies, windows, and residential neighbourhoods," said an official, noting that a strict action will be taken against those found violating the rule.

A similar move was also lunched back in February 2005 during which residents were asked to remove all unauthorised structures such as discarded items including sofa sets, parking sheds, clotheslines, and ugly looking satellite dish antennas from the front of their homes.

The situation then, however, failed to produce the desired results as the action was not strict.

Awareness campaign

Rashid Al Neyadi, head of the Public Health Department of Al Ain Municipality, said hanging laundry for drying outside villas, and in windows and balconies of buildings is not allowed under municipal rules.

"We created public awareness on the issue since long and asked them to remove clothes from the open places as they distort the city's good image," he said. He said the campaign has been launched to maintain and enhance the beauty of the city.

He said the department's official has been visiting residential areas and streets with the help of police to catch offenders. They will confiscate the ID cards of the offenders, sending them to the municipality to determine the fines. "We seek cooperation from all nationals and expatriates living in Al Ain," he said.

Many residents living in apartments in the city centre have been using clotheslines in their balconies.

Many of the old villas have been sub-divided by the landlords to rent them out to bachelors and low-income expatriate families. In such places, the residents normally hang their laundry outside and also put some of their belonging in the street.