People queueing up in front of Pakan Police Station to apply for travel permits to Sarikei.
SARIKEI: Over 100 people queued up in front of Pakan Police Station here this morning to obtain passes to visit Sarikei as required under the Movement Control Order (MCO).
A resident who made up the queue Entalai Sandin, 45, said that he was complying to the new directive of the MCO which required the police’s permission for inter-district travel.
Their main reason to come down to Sarikei was to withdraw money and buy fuel, he said.
“ We have to travel to Sarikei as we don’t have fuel stations in Pakan to refill out tanks and neither do we have Automated Teller Machine (ATM) around to enable us to withdraw our money,” he added.
Such a situation would not have happened if ATM facilities and fuel station were available in Pakan, he said.
Another Pakan resident Emila Budin, 36, said that apart from withdrawing money and buying fuel, some of them were required to travel to Sarikei to attend medical appointments.
Julau District Police chief, DSP Ismuni Umar when contacted said that he was aware of the situation and upon being informed by his men that one of the reasons prompting the locals to travel to Sarikei was to withdraw money, he recommended them to come to Julau as there is one ATM there.
In that respect, they had appealed to the bank concerned to ensure the solitary ATM to be in operational mode at all times for the convenience of local people, Ismuni said.
Ismuni also reminded the public to strictly observe the preventive measures enlisted for combating Covid 19 pandemic such as social distancing, wearing face mask and practising personal hygiene.
Meanwhile, of the four districts in Sarikei Division, Pakan, Julau and Meradong are categorised as green zones with zero Covid-19 positive cases recorded thus far.
All six positive cases recorded in Sarikei Division are from the Sarikei district.