RM200 more in compassionate aid for Penang flood victims

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state government today announced an additional 'wang ehsan' (compassionate aid) of RM200 for each flood victim in the state.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the additional amount brought the one-off payment for flood victims to RM700 per recipient (100,000 recipients).
"I wish to announce that the donations collected will be fully distributed to the flood victims with each getting RM200 more. The additional allocation amounts to RM20 million.
"If the donations collected do not reach RM20 million, the state government will top up," he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2018 at the state assembly sitting, here.
Lim had, when launching the 'Pulau Pinang Bangkit' programme last Thursday, announced a one-off aid of RM500 for each of the flood victims, besides an exemption of the water conservation surcharge on domestic consumers for one cycle (two months), as well as 50% discount on billing for domestic users and 25% for commercial users.
He said the state government would spend RM50 million to pay the compassionate aid of RM500 each to about 100,000 recipients, and each family or business could only apply for the aid once for their losses.
Lim hoped the federal government could provide an additional financial aid of RM500 to each of the recipients but said until now, he was still waiting for good news from the federal government on financial aid for flood victims in the state.
Heavy rain that started about 2pm on Nov 4 and continued until the following morning caused massive flooding in Penang which also took seven lives. — Bernama