After being diagnosed with cancer in February, hawker Yan Mengjing (transliteration) had to temporarily close her seven cooked food and market stalls to focus on recovery.

The 48-year-old single mum subsequently received rental waivers totalling over $10,000 from the National Environment Agency (NEA), reported Shin Min Daily News on Wednesday (Dec 18).

Yan, who hails from Myanmar, obtained Singapore citizenship in 2003. To raise her daughter after her divorce more than 10 years ago, she set up a yong tau foo stall before starting to sell seafood in 2019.

“At first, I had two stalls. Then, I noticed many vacant stalls and decided to rent them too. In addition to the six market stalls, I also run a cooked food stall selling Burmese curry,” she told Shin Min.

Yan was busy running the stalls — until she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in February.

Amid multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments that lasted over six months, Yan would periodically return to work.

“Due to my weakened immune system, the doctor advised me to avoid crowds, so I wasn’t able to work as usual,” she said.

Yan’s cooked food stall has been closed since February, while an assistant helmed operation of her market stalls. In July, she decided to suspend business there too, and applied to NEA to waive her rent payments.

The hawker told the Chinese evening daily that she waited over two months for the application outcome and had felt anxious when rent continued to be deducted from her bank account.

“I’m grateful for NEA’s help, which reduced some pressure,” she said. “I understand that there are regulations to abide by, but I hope that in the future, the application process can be expedited based on applicants’ individual circumstances.”

Application granted a month after complete submission: NEA

Yan re-opened her seafood stall at Toa Payoh Palm Spring Market in November, and has given up her cooked food stall.

Responding to Shin Min’s queries, NEA said the medical certificate initially submitted by the hawker only covered part of the concession period. After receiving the full submission of documents in mid-August, the agency granted the waivers.

Eleven months of rent was waived for the cooked food stall, and six months of rent was waived for the six market stalls, according to Shin Min.

The authority had also exercised some flexibility by allowing Yan’s assistant to operate the stall on her behalf while she was ill.

NEA added that their officers had visited the hawker twice — once to help with her application and once to inform her of the approval — and had suggested she consider returning some stalls to focus on recuperation, as well as to ensure there are sufficient market stalls to fulfil the needs of residents.

The agency highlighted that it is committed to supporting hawkers but it must also ensure that stalls in markets and hawker centres can operate fairly and regularly to meet consumers’ needs.

[[nid:712257]]

lim.kewei@asiaone.com