The sight of people standing around some trees at Yishun Park recently caught Intan Mokhtar’s eye.
She had been taking a walk with her husband at the park when she spotted them and “thought they were playing a game or about to start some group exercise,” the former Ang Mo Kio MP wrote in a Facebook post on Monday (July 5).
Intan wasn’t the only one puzzled by the sight, noting that other park visitors staring at the group made her look up and realise there were durians on one of the trees.
“They were actually waiting for the durians on the durian tree branches above them to fall!” she wrote.
In one photo she shared, five people can be seen waiting around some trees. Other photos showed around a dozen durians in a tree as well as a sign warning park visitors to beware of falling fruits.
Intan then asked her husband, “Isn’t that dangerous? Shouldn’t they be wearing hard hats?”
Not wanting to risk joining in, the pair opted to buy durians to bring home from a nearby shop instead, she wrote.
Image courtesy: Facebook/Intan Mokhtar
All trees and fruits on public land belong to the state, according to the Ministry of National Development.
Members of the public who wish to pluck fruit from trees, or collect fruit that has dropped from trees on state land should approach National Parks Board for permission.
Under the Parks and Trees Act, those who pluck or collect fruit in a public park without getting permission can be fined up to $5,000. If the same is done at a nature reserve or national park, a person can be fined up to $50,000 and or be jailed for up to six months.
Just last month, 11 people were arrested after they allegedly trespassed into a protected area along Mandai Road to collect durians. If found guilty of wilful trespass, they may be fined up to $1,000.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.
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