Budget 2012..........

Budget will give attention to needy

THE needs of senior citizens, single parents, children, the poor, disabled and those facing social problems will receive a lot of attention under the 2013 Budget to be tabled on Sept 28.

Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Datuk Heng Seai Kie said this was because the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sensitive to the needs and problems faced by this group in society.

"The proposals for this group are still in the process of being finalised," she said when asked about the incentives to be given by the federal government under the 2013 Budget.

Heng had earlier handed over a welfare contribution to single mother Lim Lee Kheng, 29, who has to fend for herself and her four children aged between one and eight years following the death of her husband in May.

Lim will receive RM400 a month under the Social Welfare Department's aid programme for children, a sewing machine under the Teman 1Azam programme and a RM2,700 grant to start a tailoring business to generate income for her family.

Heng said the BN government had never neglected the needy, and was in fact sensitive to their plight, especially of the poor and disabled.

She said the federal government had given out RM1.35 billion in 2011 under the Social Welfare Department's various aid schemes, whereby senior citizens received the biggest portion followed by children.

Heng said RM315 million was distributed under the children's aid programme last year, benefiting 98,848 recipients nationwide, including RM16 million for 5,529 recipients in Penang.

She said the federal government also gave out 80,597 aid packages with the maximum worth RM5,000 each under the Teman 1Azam programme, aimed at improving the recipients' quality of life. It has benefited 1,793 families in Penang alone.

Besides these, Heng said the government had approved RM18.6 million for 430 families as launching grants worth RM2,700 each for the needy interested to start a small business.

Meanwhile, Heng urged care centres to get themselves registered so that they could operate according to the stipulated criteria for the safety and in the interest of the centres' residents.

She said Under the Care Centre Act 1993, these care centres must be registered with three agencies, namely the local authority, Fire and Rescue Department and Health Department.

There are 818 care centres registered with the Social Welfare Department, with 66 of them located in Penang