Tuesday November 17, 2009
Selangor State Assembly
By SALINA KHALID
Welfare homes warned
ACTION will be taken against welfare homes found misusing their premises, including renting it out to foreigners, said Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
“We will not hesitate to take action against these welfare homes if there is sufficient proof that they are misusing their premises.
“Currently they are paying RM1 for their quit rent and we will revoke this privilege.”
He added that there were many applications for welfare homes but the state had to filter and ensure these were legitimate.
He said this in response to a question by Sungai Burung state assemblyman Datuk Mohd Shamsudin Lias.
He also said there were more than 2,000 people who had been receiving welfare aid and were residing at various welfare homes in Selangor. At the same time, there are more than 1,000 people staying at homes under the Lembaga Zakat Selangor.
There are seven government-run homes in the state and 36 privately-operated homes with grants from the Welfare Department.
“There are three day homes for the elderly in the state with an approved grant of RM99,99 per year.
Lembaga Zakat operates 38 homes offering assistance depending on the people’s needs and the home’s capacity,” he said.
Khalid said these homes received funds from the Welfare Department through grants.
He said each home under the Lembaga Zakat received between RM20,000 and RM50,000 each since 2008.
Homes registered under the Welfare Department also received tax exemption as part of efforts to ease their financial burden.
Site to sell alcoholic drinks not identified
THE state government has not decided yet on a suitable location to sell alcoholic drinks, said state local government, study and research committee chairman Ronnie Liu.
However, he said guidelines pertaining to this were in place.
“The licence to sell liquor is determined by a licensing board and District Excise chaired by the relevant district officer with four members and assisted by a technical team comprising officers from Customs, the police, Health Department and the local council.
“However, the sale of alcoholic drinks with less than 8.8% content do not require a licence,” he said.
He said this in response to a question by Yap Ee Wah from Sungai Pelek during the state assembly sitting.
Currently, the measures introduced in the Shah Alam City Council are the use of posters, stickers and brochures to boost awareness on the implementation of the self-regulatory exercise in selling alcoholic drinks in the city.
The posters, stickers and brochures were distributed to convenience store operators in the city recently.
Reading habit not catching on
THERE are 70 libraries in the rural areas in Selangor but this is not encouraging the public to read.
“The reading culture just simply doesn’t exist in Selangor. Those who do read seem to prefer light stuff.
“Even the academicians read books on their field only,” said Selangor education, higher education and moral character development committee chairman Dr Halimah Ali.
She said the state was doing all it could to encourage people to cultivate the habit.
Sabak Bernam has 22 libraries, Kuala Selangor 11 and Kuala Langat nine. Petaling district has three located in Kampung Kubu Gajah, Kampung Sungai Pelong and Desa Kuang.
Move to revive abandoned housing projects
STATE housing, building management and squatter affairs committee chairman Iskandar Abdul Samad said eight abandoned housing projects in the state will be revived by 2010.
A total of 5,655 units located in Ampang, Kuala Langat and Subang Jaya will be revived between this year and next year.
Among the projects are the Ukay Bistari in Ampang (1,432 units), Belvedere Service Condo & Lagoon Perdana in Subang Jaya (1,401 units) and Services Kondominium Kinrara (1,131 units).
He added that the state government was only acting as facilitator in efforts to revive these abandoned projects.
Iskandar said this in response to a question from Sri Muda state assemblyman Mat Shuhaimi Shafiei.
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