‘Various initiatives in place to aid 1,434 hardcore poor in Selangor’

THERE are 1,434 heads of households in Selangor who are categorised as hardcore poor.

Selangor human resources and poverty eradication committee chairman V. Papparaidu said the latest statistics as of May 31 this year were according to the National Poverty Data Bank System, also known as eKasih.

He said the state government, through the Selangor State Executive Council (MMKN), had undertaken various initiatives to ease the households’ burden.

He highlighted that those affected would receive special assistance from the Bantuan Kehidupan Sejahtera Selangor (Bingkas) programme.

“Until May this year, 328 hardcore poor households were given financial aid under Bingkas,” he said at the Selangor State Assembly, in reply to David Cheong Kian Young’s (Kajang-PH) question on the latest statistics of hardcore poor in Selangor based on districts.

The Bingkas programme offers RM300 in monthly aid to buy groceries at designated shops.

Hardcore poor households are categorised as those with a monthly income of less than RM1,198.

Papparaidu said aside from Bingkas, the Welfare Department and Selangor Tithes Board (LZS) had also provided support to hardcore poor households.

Based on the hardcore poor heads of households statistics, Gombak district has 153, Hulu Langat (171), Hulu Selangor (177), Klang (253), Kuala Langat (156), Kuala Selangor (106), Petaling (310), Sabak Bernam (93) and Sepang (15).

“These figures were retrieved from eKasih,” he said.

He added that the eKasih programme was a government database of registered poor families based on the income poverty line prepared by Economy Ministry and the Department of Statistics Malaysia through the Household Income 2022 Census Report.

In reply to the second question by Cheong on what measures the Selangor government had taken to help hardcore poor households, Papparaidu said the state government offered aid through the Iltizam Selangor Penyayang (ISP) welfare assistance programme.

ISP is a long-term initiative by the Selangor government.

“ISP initiatives fall under the Poverty Eradication Blueprint Assistance Programme, which is to ease the burden of individuals earning below RM1,500 a month and households earning below RM3,000 a month,” he said.