KUALA LUMPUR – The high volume of applications for flood assistance and multiple entries from a single household are among reasons why many Selangor residents have yet to receive their flood aid.
In apologising for the delay, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari has given his assurance during a press conference that the distribution of the RM1,000 Bantuan Selangor Bangkit aid will be completed by the end of the month.
According to Amirudin, the state had received a total of 109,000 applications since the start of the disaster, with only slightly more than half of them – 55,425 households – having received the flood relief.
The majority of those who have yet to receive theirs are from the Klang and Petaling districts – those affected the most by the recent disaster.
In Klang alone, Amirudin said some 77,000 applications have been submitted to date, with 30,000 families yet to receive their aid due to a stringent screening process.
“We found a huge number of new applications in these two districts, with some families registering multiple times under different names.
“We are forced to screen everyone’s names to ensure the aid reaches the right hands.
“I am expecting the distribution process to be completed by the end of February,” he said.
Amirudin added that in other districts, fewer than a thousand victims on average have not received their assistance.
Coordinating aid distribution with federal govt also behind delay
The menteri besar also said the state’s coordination with the federal government in issuing aid — where victims will receive assistance from both via a single form — has also contributed to the delay.
“Some people ask why other states are quick to give out assistance. Of course they can (do so), because the number of flood victims there is very small compared to ours.”
Asked if there are cases of a single family receiving aid multiple times, Amirudin said based on data available to the Selangor government, this is not the case.
The menteri besar said other than the RM1,000 cash assistance, the state has also given out RM10,000 each to 13 families who have recently lost their members to the flood, and that the government is in the midst of identifying and reaching out to six other families.
S’gor currently probing into individuals who perused fake Covid-19 certificate service
On a separate issue involving a fake Covid-19 certificate syndicate in Gombak that was busted last month, Amirudin said the state is currently conducting a probe on whether those who had utilised the service had updated their MySejahtera without being properly inoculated.
“We want to know if they had lied about taking the vaccine and later updating the vaccination status on the app, because based on the syndicate’s modus operandi, they were not jabbed, but the shots were discarded.
“Perhaps this is why we see so many ‘vaccinated’ people in Stages 4 and 5 or even dying of Covid-19, because we know that vaccines work to reduce the effects of the virus.
“I really hope Selangor residents don’t get fooled by or become involved in these sorts of activities. This is really unfortunate.”
Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed on January 17 said police had arrested the owner of a polyclinic in Gombak and six of the workers for issuing fake Covid-19 certificates for a fee.
He said that although the clinic received a supply of vaccines from the Health Ministry, they were discarded, with the empty bottles later returned to the ministry to justify the issuance of vaccination certificates. – The Vibes, February 3, 2022
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