FT Ministry: One-stop centres for homeless to be set up in the city
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PETALING JAYA: One-stop centres will be set up around KL to provide shelter for the city’s poor and homeless.
The Federal Territories Ministry, in a statement on its official blog, said that it had collaborated with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to identify suitable locations for the centres.
“These centres will possess shelters with the ‘Anjung Singgah’ concept in addition to serving as an integrated registration centre for the homeless. It will include other facilities such as healthcare,” read the statement.
The Ministry added that it, along with DBKL would not have announced measures such as imposing fines on alms-givers and bans on soup kitchens if it did not have logical alternatives.
“There should no longer be questions on the Ministry and DBKL wanting to halt the activities of any parties such as NGOs from donating and helping the poor.
“It is important to consider the methods and locations currently being practised, with the possibility of problems such as food poisoning due to filth and unsightly views in tourist- centric areas,” it said.
On Thursday, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor announced that soup kitchens would be banned from operating within a 2km radius of Lot 10.
Tengku Adnan later clarified the earlier announcement in a post on his Facebook page stating that his intentions were misunderstood but that he was willing to accept all the opinions on the matter.
“I am not barring people from continuing their voluntary work of serving and aiding the homeless and the poor and I am well aware of all the harsh criticisms which have been directed towards me over this issue.
The minister said he hoped that people would take a moment to understand that he was trying to clean up the city.
