SHAH ALAM: The delay in providing house repairing assistance to residents in Sabak Bernam affected by a freak storm in the early hours of Saturday, is unintentional as it a large allocation, said Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari.
He said the state government and its agencies are doing their best to provide further assistance to the storm victims.
“The house repairing assistance was delayed as it involved about 500 houses damaged by the storm and so the cost would be big too,“ he told reporters during the Selangor Budget 2020 dialogue session here today.
He said the state government sympathised with the plight and will be doing its best to address the problems faced by the victims.
“We are willing to accept criticisms and prepared to improve. However, please be considerate to our officials too, because the number of houses for them to manage is not small,“ he said.
He said the assistance to repair the houses damaged by the storm is expected to be completed within three weeks or a month.
“The storm is a natural disaster and the important aspect in disaster management would be coordination, if we take a look we will realise that Selangor is more advanced then some other states because we have a unit and specialised personnel in disaster management,“ he said.
In the incident, about 500 houses in the district including Sungai Besar and Sekinchan areas were damaged by the storm.
Meanwhile, the residents have been asking the state government to assist as soon as possible.
At the dialogue session, state deputy health director (Public Health) Dr B. Venugopalan suggested that the state government provide an allocation to assist patients suffering from tuberculosis (TB).
He said Selangor recorded 5,071 TB cases with 367 fatalities last year and suggested assistance of RM500 per patient be given for treatment.
He cited that 553 or 11% patients dropped out of receiving treatment within six months.
The mentri besar replied that the state government was willing to consider the suggestion. — Bernama
