KUALA LUMPUR - Food stamps will be given out mainly to the destitute should the Government choose to implement the system in future to help ease the burden of rising food prices.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the system of issuing food coupons was among the best approach to ensure that aid reached the less fortunate, which was the objective of 7th National Key Result Area - cost of living.
"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin are discussing the matter and should it be approved, it will be duly announced.
"Perhaps the food stamp is a good way of helping the low-income group and the poor, and should it become a reality, the destitute will be given priority to receive food stamps," she told reporters, here, on Monday.
Shahrizat was earlier handing over food packages for breaking fast to the needy at Anjung Singgah, a one-stop intervention centre in Jalan Hang Lekiu.
Shahrizat said the centre would distribute food for breaking of fast throughout Ramadan, including to the less fortunate from other races.
Anjung Singgah, a pilot project involving the government and the National Welfare Foundation (NWF) to handle the problem of the destitute in the country, started its operation in April and can accommodate 76 men and women at a time.
The centre also functions as a referral centre which has registered 213 men and 37 women up to July 25.
At the ceremony on Monday, 700 food packages and items such as towels, first aid boxes and personal care products were distributed to the needy from the federal capital under the programme organised by the ministry, NWF and Puspanita.
- The Star
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