PETALING JAYA: The food shortages that we are reading in Pudu’s semi-enhanced movement control order (MCO) is a repeat of the Selayang EMCO fiasco, Bukit Gasing State Assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran (pix) said today.
The federal government and the Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) had failed to adequately supply food provisions to residents under lockdown in Selayang, he pointed out.
“In the recent EMCO in Petaling Jaya Old Town, we identified the various needs of the residents and made provisions to address them efficiently,” Rajiv said in a statement.
“We learned from the Selayang EMCO and aimed to prevent a similar situation from happening in PJ Old Town. Our efforts included supplying supplementary fresh food packs to my residents with financial allocations for the state government and kind sponsors, and of course with the cooperation of the welfare department we got these provisions delivered to each house.
“We also catered food for senior citizens who are unable to cook at home from restaurants, once again using the financial allocations from the state government as well as contributions from kind sponsors.”
Rajiv said a hotline was set up to supplement MKN’s hotline for the residents, as one person answering MKN’s hotline is not sufficient. Our hotline was connected to our 7 members of staff to be able to answer residents’ questions and take note of their concerns,
“The gap needed to be filled, and my team and I quickly filled it, learning the lessons from the Selayang EMCO,” he said.
“But the situation is Pudu is clearly showing that MKN and Putrajaya are not learning from these past shortcomings. It seems that planning for lockdowns revolved around security and barb wire, and less thought for the food supply, medicine supply and overall welfare of these residents.”
