Food baskets for 18,000

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Distribution of food baskets under the Bakul Rahmah initiative, containing at least 12 daily necessities, will start for over 18,000 hardcore poor in the second week of March, says the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister.

Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said each recipient would get the basket of daily necessities worth RM100.

“We hope to be able to distribute the aid before Ramadan and complete it before Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Each food basket will have at least 12 daily necessities that may ease their burden and expenses.

“The 18,000 recipients are half of the total of 37,000 B40 families that we have identified,” he said after the Back to School Aid handing-over ceremony at Dewan Taman Bukit Indah here yesterday.

He said the second batch of recipients would receive the Bakul Rahmah aid after Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Salahuddin said data from the Statistics Department revealed that as of Dec 31, 2022, there were 130,000 poor households in the country.

Education support: Salahuddin presenting a school bag to a child during the Back to School Aid handing-over ceremony at Dewan Taman Bukit Indah in Iskandar Puteri. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

This showed the 37,000 recipients from the B40 families that had been identified by the ministry are only 30% of the ministry’s target group of hardcore poor who needed aid, he added.

“Our priority will be helping those with chronic diseases, elderly couples or family members who are taking care of their sick children or relatives, and foster homes,” he said.

The government has allocated RM100mil under the Payung Rahmah initiative for the ministry to run programmes such as Menu Rahmah and Bakul Rahmah.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said ministry secretary-general Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof will lead a special task force to conduct investigations into the misappropriation of diesel worth RM10bil last year.

“Azman, together with ministry enforcement director Datuk Azman Adam, has carried out enforcement operations and patrols, especially in rural areas, including in Sabah and Sarawak.

“Operations are also being carried out at fishermen’s jetties where leakages could occur.

“For fishermen, we need to work together with the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry as they have a diesel aid programme under the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia,” he added.

He said his ministry would mobilise its 2,100 enforcement personnel for the operations.

During the tabling of Budget 2023 in Parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said diesel worth around RM10bil was misappropriated last year.