Residents Propose Additional Food For Elderly In Surabaya To Be Added

Chairman of the Surabaya DPRD Adi Sutarwijono during a recess activity in Rungkut, Surabaya City, Friday (13/5/2022). (ANTARA/HO-DPRD Surabaya)

SURABAYA - A number of residents proposed to the Surabaya City Government, East Java, that the provision of supplementary food (PMT) for the elderly, which had been reduced due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, was now increased, as before.

"In our area, before the COVID-19 pandemic there were around 120 elderly people who received PMT, but during the pandemic, the PMT budget that fell was only able to meet the needs of 30 elderly people," said a Surabaya cadre Great Nuril Hidayati during a recess activity by the Chairperson of the Surabaya DPRD Adi Sutarwijono in Rungkut, Surabaya was reported by Antara, Friday, May 13.

Nuril said to cover the shortfall due to the limited budget, his party was forced to use cash funds so that the elderly in the area still received PMT.

"Through Pak Adi, we hope that this can be conveyed to the health department so that PMT for the elderly can return to what it was before COVID-19," he said.

Responding to the complaint, the chairman of the Surabaya DPRD, Adi Sutarwijono, explained that PMT's budget needs had swelled quite a lot. The number is 33 thousand poor elderly, including orphans, and that's not yet for delivery services.

"So it was agreed that the PMT budget should not be increased first because it measures the strength of the city government's budget. Do not let the stake be bigger than the pole," said Adi, who is also the chairman of the Surabaya PDIP DPC.

However, he continued, the PMT budget increase will be proposed again in the next Surabaya APBD discussion. "Pak Eri Cahyadi and Pak Armuji (mayor and deputy) will serve until 2024. So there is still time and opportunity to make that happen. We are in the council with the municipal government to continue to calculate the power of the budget," he said.

In addition to the PMT issue, the school zoning system for new student admissions (PPDB) has also become a public complaint during the recess. Not a few residents who have difficulty getting opportunities in public schools because the location where they live is far from the school.

"We will communicate with the dispendik (education office) later. Is a special formulation needed in this zoning? Because it is impossible to add schools due to limited space and budgetary strength," he said.