By Adrian Lim
KAPIT, June 10: Almost all rural households are entitled to BKSS 6.0 (Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang 6.0) food aid which has a total of 473,558 heads of households on the list.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said almost all households in rural areas will obtain the food aid while in the urban area, priority is given to those under the B40 groups.
For BKSS 6.0, a total of 473,558 heads of households have been identified, and this is an increase of 24.4 per cent as compared to the number of households given the food assistance last year of 380,762.
Abang Johari said the food aid was part of the special assistance package under the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) 6.0 amounted to RM1.4 billion to assist those affected during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Statistics collected as of June 10 (1 am) from the various Divisional Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) reported that a total of 175,916 households have been distributed with this food assistance all over Sarawak.
“For Kapit, there will be 28,118 households who will receive this food assistance by tomorrow hopefully,” he said in his speech during the launching of the food aid for rural areas at Kapit Town Square here today.
Abang Johari who is also the Finance and Economic Planning Minister said RM35.5 million was allocated for the food assistance programme this year which represented an increase of 116 per cent as compared with RM16.4 million in 2020.
He noted the number of households eligible for the food aid were identified with the help of the local service centre as well as community leaders in their respective constituencies.
Abang Johari added the respective DDMC decided on the food items, based on the local needs of their communities.
Thus, he extended his appreciation to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry for assisting to ensure that the supply of food items were enough and available at most points of sales, especially in the rural areas.
Abang Johari also thanked the food supply chain sub-committee chairman Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Wellfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, local councils, divisional disaster committees, community leaders, police, armed forces among others for their commitment and cooperation in ensuring all the communities in hard-to-reach areas receive their food assistance on time.
He emphasised that the food assistance distribution will be implemented in compliance to the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the MCO.
Among those present during the launching of the food aid distribution in Kapit were State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing, Belaga assemblyman Datuk Liwan Lagang and Kapit Resident Nyurak Keti. — DayakDaily
