Over 30,000 families in KL under poverty line

PETALING JAYA: Over 30,000 families out of 1.8 million population in the capital are estimated to have an income of below RM2,200, which is under the poverty line, and needs appropriate assistance, said the Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

Annuar said the number was identified in 178 localities around Kuala Lumpur especially involving the People’s Housing Project (PPR) residents.

“In the city (Kuala Lumpur), this group cannot meet basic needs such as food, clothes and shelter. (So) we feel that they need to be assisted with various facilities and aid and there must be special planning so that this group is not left behind,” he said today.

Annuar was speaking to reporters after announcing the list of 335 recipients of awards, honours and medals in conjunction with the Federal Territory Day 2021 celebration here.

Also present were the Federal Territories Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Rosida Jaafar and Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Mahadi Che Ngah.

However, Annuar said the exact number of household heads who fall under the poverty line could not be ascertained as the matter was managed by various agencies such as the Social Welfare Department, Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council and Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department.

“We believe there are some overlappings but our estimation is based on household heads in 63,000 units of PPR around the capital with half of them are under the poverty line,” he said.

Meanwhile, Annuar said the ministry would distribute over 5,000 bags of rice per week to the needy under the MyBeras@Wilayah programme compared to 3,000 bags previously, due to the overwhelming response from contributors.

“Therefore, we expect to distribute 20,000 to 30,000 bags of rice to target groups in one month period.

“We are still open for donations and in fact, I personally contacted my friends from private entities to participate in this programme. The public can also donate at least RM10 via the MyInfaq portal,” he said.

He added that the rice distribution would be carried out systematically to target groups in each zone so that there would be no violation of standard operating procedures during the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

The MyBeras@Wilayah programme is a sub-programme to MyFood@Wilayah, organised specifically for the urban poor or those who had lost income during the MCO, which was launched virtually by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his Federal Territory Day 2021 message last night.

-- BERNAMA