SIK: Residents at the foothills of Gunung Jerai in Kedah have been asked to remain vigilant for water surges during bad weather as there have been rain in the state over the past few days.

Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the water surge incident that occurred last month resulted in the river becoming shallow and if a similar incident happened again, the waters would easily overflow into the surrounding area.

"I advise residents in the area to be alert, take care of their health, look at weather conditions, and follow the instructions of the authorities if there are warnings of heavy rain as this incident may happen again

"Security forces are stationed there...there are weather reports of heavy rain in a day or two in several states including Kedah, Perlis, Penang and Sarawak, so I advise residents to be vigilant," he said here, today.

Muhammad Sanusi was speaking to reporters after launching ceremony of the Jeneri Seasonal Fruit Market (Dokong) to Klang Valley in Kampung Padang Pulut, Jeneri.

In other developments, Muhammad Sanusi requested public religious and tahfiz schools who have yet to register with Kedah Islamic Religious Affairs Department to do so immediately for aid to be channelled to them.

He said for this year a total of 191 public religious schools and tahfiz schools which had registered have been given aid of RM5,000 each, involving a total aid allocation of RM955,000.

"This involved 38 religious secondary schools, 37 religious primary schools, 90 maahad tahfiz and 29 sekolah pondok. About 100 have yet to register.

"We understand they still have maintenance expenditure even though they are not operating," he said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sanusi said there are 2,961 tonnes of dokong (fruit) have been collected from 410 orchards around the Sik district to be marketed in the Klang Valley this year.

"The farm price for one kilogramme of dokong is around RM1.50. Next year, we may get a better market price to help raise the income of dokong fruit growers," he added.

-- BERNAMA