15,000 Sarikei households in need to get food aid under National Recovery Plan

Andrew Wong Ling Biu

SARIKEI (July 8): A total of 15,000 families in need under the Sarikei parliamentary constituency will receive food assistance under the federal government’s National Recovery Plan (NRP), said Sarikei MP Andrew Wong Ling Biu.

He told a press conference today the RM300,000 allocated to every parliamentary constituency for the food basket programme, as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently, was insufficient to cover all households.

A check with the Meradong Julau District Council (MJDC) and Sarikei District Council (SDC) found there were over 25,000 households under their jurisdiction, Wong said.

“If the RM300,000 allocation were to be shared equally, each of the 25,000 households would receive food baskets worth RM10 only, Therefore we decided to distribute the food assistance to 15,000 families who are badly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he explained.

He said only those who are really in need should accept the food baskets, encouraging those who could still manage to decline them.

“Accept it if in need, donate if can afford it,” he said.

Wong said the food baskets would be distributed in stages, with the delivery mechanism and teams being organised at present.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/2VkjC8v
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