KEDAH TO DEVELOP NEW MECHANISM FOR DISTRIBUTING FLOOD AID

ALOR SETAR, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- The Kedah government plans to develop a new system for delivering assistance to heads of households (KIR) affected by floods after discovering cases of victims receiving more aid than they were eligible for.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said he had received reports from district officers about married couples who registered at different relief centres to claim the RM1,000 allocated to each KIR.

“We have detected that some households are seeking shelter at different relief centres, with the wife registering at one and the husband at another. I was informed by the district officers that there have been several such cases.

“Even during floods, some people are taking advantage of the situation, which isn’t right. This time, we will look into this issue to make sure no KIR gets more (than they’re entitled to). We don’t want this to happen again,” he said after chairing the state executive council meeting here today.

The Kedah government had earlier distributed the Bantuan Komuniti Sejahtera (BKS) aid of RM1,000 to each KIR who relocated to the relief centre following the floods last September.

Muhammad Sanusi said that this time, assistance would also be extended to KIR who did not relocate to the relief centres, particularly those who were unable to do so because the centres were full or because floodwaters had cut off access to their villages.

He added that the amount of aid for each KIR affected by the floods would be determined later, once official data on the total number of victims was available.

“According to the figures released by PKOB (the Disaster Operations Control Centre), there are 11,046 victims in the relief centres, with 3,574 KIR. If we include KIR and families who have not relocated, the number could be higher,” he said.

In the meantime, Muhammad Sanusi said he was informed that Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan would be visiting the state this Saturday, and that the state government was planning to apply for allocations, particularly for the repair of flood-damaged infrastructure.

-- BERNAMA