PUTRAJAYA: The Rural and Regional Development Ministry will set up poverty eradication focus group at the district level to ensure poverty eradication programmes and assistance reach the target group.Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the focus group would comprise district officers, MPs, assemblymen as well as officers from relevant departments.
“There are cases where the poor have not been able to enjoy the facility provided for them.
“For instance, a district may have been allocated with 10 units of houses for the poor but there maybe more than 10 families who should be receiving the assistance,” he told reporters after delivering his New Year 2010 message to the staff of the ministry, here.
It was for this reason that apart from district officers, the focus group would also comprise MPs and assemblymen as they knew the requirements of the people in their areas, he said.
He said the ministry would monitor the focus group to ensure they were not used by certain quarters to serve their political agenda.
Mohd Shafie also called on Mara to set up more technical colleges to create more skill workers among the locals.
Mara should rise and not be too dependent on the government, he said. — Bernama