2.4 Million Poor People Have Received BLT Village Fund

Illustration of aid recipients (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Villages, Disadvantaged Areas and Transmigration (Kemendes PDTT), Abdul Halim Iskandar, said that 23,963 villages had distributed direct cash assistance from village funds (BLT Dana Desa). As many as 2.4 million poor people have received this assistance.

According to Abdul Halim, today there are 62,063 villages that have collected data on poor families. He emphasized that from this data there was an increase of 3,690 villages from the previous day.

Furthermore, Abdul Halim said, the villages that had carried out special village deliberations reached 54,451 villages, or 99 percent of the villages that had received the village funds above. This figure also shows an increase of 5,332 villages compared to the previous day.

The current ratification of the regent and mayor can be suspended after the distribution of the first phase of the Village Fund BLT. A total of 23,963 villages have distributed Village Fund BLT. This figure includes 43 percent of villages that have received village funds.

"Today there are 2,469,025 poor families who have received Village Fund BLT. The amount is 30 percent of the target of 12 million beneficiary families. Within a day there is an increase in recipients of 815,345 poor families," he said, in a written statement received by VOI, in Jakarta, Thursday, May 21.

Abdul Halim said the value of village funds distributed to residents reached Rp1,481,415,000,000. This value increased IDR 489,207,000,000 from the previous day.

According to Abdul Halim, since Wednesday, May 20, there has been a surge in the distribution of Village Fund BLT by 7,496 villages. Currently there are 55,260 villages that have received village funds in the village treasury account. This means that the villages are ready to distribute the Village Fund BLT. However, there are still around 5 thousand villages that have not yet distributed.

"Village funds for 5,437 villages are still being processed at the local State Treasury Service Office (KPPN). These will also be immediately channeled to village treasury accounts," he said.

Abdul Halim explained that there were four stages of BLT Village Fund distribution, namely data collection on poor families, special village meetings to determine the list of beneficiaries, ratification of the regent on the list of village proposals, and ending the distribution of aid.

In accordance with the latest developments, the provinces that were able to distribute the highest BLT-DD were Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, Bali, DI Yogyakarta, and Southeast Sulawesi.

On the other hand, the provinces with the lowest percentage of Village Fund BLT disbursement were Banten, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Papua and North Maluku respectively.

Various relaxation efforts were made by the government to facilitate the distribution of Village Fund BLT. PDTT Village Minister Instruction No. 1/2020 allows villages that have reported the list of Village Fund BLT recipients to the regent or mayor for more than five days, so they can directly distribute to their residents according to the list.

PDTT Village Minister's Instruction No. 2/2020 also emphasized that further villages can directly distribute the first phase of Village Fund BLT according to the list of results of village meetings. As for the ratification of the regent or mayor on the list, it becomes the basis for distribution in the second stage and so on.

The PDTT Village Ministry has assigned all facilitators at the village, sub-district, district / city, provincial and national levels to monitor, support, and report regularly and on call the process of accelerating the distribution of Village Fund BLT.

Not only that, Abdul Halim explained, his party also assigned all echelon II officials for daily monitoring and facilitating the Community and Village Empowerment Service in all districts and cities that received village funds. Echelon I officials must communicate intensively with the Regent / mayor for the acceleration of the Village Fund BLT.

For your information, the PDTT Ministry of Health has also sent an official letter to the regents and mayors last week to accelerate the distribution of Village Fund BLT in their regions. Letters were also sent to all governors, especially the areas with the lowest percentage of BLT Dana Desa distribution.

Letters have also been sent to the Minister of Home Affairs, the National Police and the TNI Commander to get support for regents and mayors at the regional level, as well as Babinkamtibmas and Babinsa at the village level to facilitate and facilitate the accelerated distribution of Village Fund BLT.

Moreover, since the beginning, Babinkamtibmas and Babinsa have entered the Village Volunteer Structure Against COVID-19, "he explained.