USD staff to patrol Central

GOVERNMENT officials will be on the lookout for illegal hawking and littering among the tens of thousands of Filipino amahs expected to flood Central over the New Year holidays.

Extra staff from the Urban Services Department (USD) will be on hand to make sure popular locations such as Chater Garden are kept clean and free of illegal activities. And police will be on the lookout for illegal gambling.

Surveillance will be at the same level as for the Christmas holidays, which police and the USD say passed smoothly.

USD information officer Mrs Annabella So Ting-tan said: ''During Christmas there was no serious problem and everyone was out to have a good time. The situation was no worse and no better than any other public holiday and there is no need for any extra deployment this weekend.'' Chater Road will be closed to traffic today.

There are no official records to show how many of the 60,000 Filipino amahs in Hongkong have returned home for the holidays, but a social worker dealing with the maids estimated up to 25 per cent may have done so.

Thousands are still expected to hit Central and the USD will be prepared.

Members of its general duties team will be on hand to enforce the rules and prosecute if necessary. But a spokesman admitted a recent crackdown on illegal activities had resulted in a lower number of incidents.