The Pintasan Kelicap residents action committee also wants the council to sit down with them to discuss alternatives.
The residents claim they have been growing fruit trees and herbal plants on the road shoulders in the neighbourhood for the last 20 years.
“We want the MBPP to revoke the 14-day notice issued to half of the 84 households on Oct 18 and Oct 29, ordering them to clear the road shoulders in front of their houses,” committee vice-chairman Harnani Hassan said at a joint press conference with the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) today.
The committee wants a meeting with MBPP and their assemblyman, Azrul Mahathir Aziz, to discuss a better solution.
Harnani said the residents were not satisfied with Azrul’s advice to them to adhere to MBPP’s notice.
“We also want to discuss with MBPP whether our ‘community farm’ can be recognised as an urban farm. We want them to explain what they are going to do with the road shoulders once these are cleared,” she told FMT.
She said MBPP had informed them the crops and trees had been planted on the road shoulders without its permission, and that it had issued the notices following public complaints.
Committee chairman Samsuddin Hussain, 80, who has been living in the neighbourhood since 1999, said the fruit trees functioned as a buffer zone between their houses and the main road, Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim.
“These fruit trees have shielded our homes from the sweltering heat and the exhaust fumes from the main road,” he said.
CAP hoped the council would give due consideration to the wishes of the residents by revoking the notices.
“We sent an official letter to the mayor and the council’s director of landscape on Nov 1 to express our sympathy for the residents,” said its president, Mohideen Abdul Kader.
“CAP supports agricultural activities by residents as it has a positive effect on their lives as well as on the environment. Besides, this effort shows the success of the state government’s slogan of ‘Penang, Green and Clean’ and the urban agriculture project launched by the federal government.”
The “community farm” has 30 mango trees, 20 coconut trees, five murungai trees, five star fruit trees, five ciku trees and an assortment of herbal plants.
Samsuddin told FMT the fruits and herbs harvested from the “community farm” were shared among residents.
At the event, the residents held a peaceful picket to protest the order issued by MBPP.