Minister Of Home Affairs: Regional Heads Can Take Bencan Rice-Minyak Allotments In Bulog

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian stated that regional heads whose areas were affected by flooding in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra could take allotments of rice and cooking oil for disaster management in Bulog.

"They (Bulog) can issue such a disaster rice. It can be issued unlimited (without limits), as long as there is a request from the regional head," Tito said during a press conference at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, Jakarta, Wednesday, December 3.

Tito explained that the regional head concerned could request rice and cooking oil from the Minister of Agriculture as well as the Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Andi Amran Sulaiman by sending a letter.

Letters can be sent online via messaging applications. After that, Minister of Agriculture Amran will forward the letter to Bulog President Director Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani for further coordination.

"Just write a letter to Mr. Amran, via WhatsApp you can do. If not, I can also do it. Later I will forward (continue) to Mr. Amran and after that, I will go directly to Bulog. Bulog will execute it immediately," he said.

Tito said the move had been taken in Lhokseumawe, Aceh. In less than 24 hours, about 100 tons of rice was immediately issued by Bulog after the regional head wrote to the Minister of Agriculture.

"So, as long as there is a letter, it will be executed that day," he said.

The Minister of Home Affairs appealed to regional heads to check the stock in Bulog warehouses. "Please colleagues from regional heads, many don't know this is possible, fellow regional heads who are affected, yes, please look at the condition of the reserves in Bulog's warehouse," he said.

Specifically related to rice, the Minister of Home Affairs said that the supply in Bulog's warehouses was relatively sufficient. Because, of the 1.3 million tons of reserves, the total rice issued was only around 800 900 thousand tons. "This means that there are still 600 thousand tons of reserves," he added.

"At that time in Lhokseumawe, we tried, this area was locked because the roads were broken, the bridge was broken, the rice was running low. Then we wanted to try to find rice from Medan or from Riau and Banda Aceh, but after I came to Lhokseumawe, it turned out that there was a 28 thousand tons in Bulog warehouse for consumption. Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, Bireuen, the three of which were locked. So, actually there is no need to take rice elsewhere, that's enough for nine months," he said.