A intensive Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) campaign in different municipalities has resulted in the removal the violations at 48 farms and amendment of the existing situation at 34 other farms.
All 82 violating farms were detected in the municipalities of Al Sheehaniya, Al Rayyan, Al Wakra and Umm Salal, the MME said yesterday.
Jabir Hassan al-Jabir, director of Al Sheehaniya Municipality and head of the work team that follows up on violating farms, said such campaigns are undertaken by the ministry as part of a comprehensive plan to remove all violations from farms around the country in co-operation with the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) and the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya).
A press conference was held at the ministry in this regard yesterday morning.
Besides al-Jabir, the press meet was attended by Yousef Khalid al-Khelaifi, director of the MME’s Agriculture Affairs Department; Fahd Zafir al-Dossari, director of the Labour Inspection Department at the MADLSA; Hamad al-Shahwani from the MoCI; and Lieutenant Ali Mohamed al-Saaq from Lekhwiya.
In Al Sheehaniya, the campaign resulted in the removal of targeted violations at 20 farms out of a total of 32, while the situation was duly amended at 12 farms.
In Al Rayyan Municipality, violations were removed at 12 farms, and the condition of seven other farms was modified.
Similarly, violations at five farms in Al Wakra were removed and eight farms saw amendment of their existing situation, while in Umm Salal the violations were removed at 11 farms out of 18 farms and the situation was duly modified at seven farms.
Al-Jabir informed that a similar campaign began in Al Khor and Al Thakhira Municipality on January 9, targeting 18 violating farms.
The campaign will now inspect farms in Al Daayan and Al Shamal municipalities.
Al-Jabir stressed that the campaign would continue until all violations at the farms are removed.
These included the construction of workers accommodation units, warehouses, garages and others to enforce Law No 10 of 1987 and its amendments with regard to public and private state property and Law No 4 of 1985 and its amendments on the organisation of buildings.
He said the MME has urged farm owners across all municipalities to co-operate with it by removing the targeted violations and modify their situation in order to resume agricultural activities there and abide by the laws and regulations that govern farming activities.
He said these farms should be used only for the designated purpose of contributing to achieving self-sufficiency in food production in the country, in the light of the various challenges involved.
Further, al-Jabir said after the conclusion of the initiative against farm violations, another campaign would be carried out targeting building and warehouse violations at undesignated yards and plots.
The MME’s Public Relations Department has been carrying out a comprehensive campaign targeting the owners of farms across the country on the need to abide by the relevant regulations and administrative decisions with the ultimate aim of using farms exclusively for agricultural production.
