Special RM200 allowance to be finalised month’s end — Zuraida
PUTRAJAYA: The decision to provide a special monthly allowance of RM200 to the officers and personnel of the Fire and Rescue Department will be made known by this month’s end, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.
She said a working paper on the matter was tabled at the Cabinet meeting and her ministry was awaiting a decision from the Finance Ministry.
“There is a big possibility the critical allowance will be approved because it does not involve additional financial implication for the ministry,” she said after receiving a courtesy call from the department’s director- general Mohammad Hamdan Wahid here yesterday.
A special allowance of RM200 was recommended by former Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar on March 21 to recognise the effort and work of the firefighters in coping with disasters that placed the agency on par with other enforcement agencies.
If approved, the allowance will benefit 14,761 department employees, involving an annual allocation of RM35.4 million annually.
In a separate development, Zuraida said the National Community Policy report would be tabled at the Cabinet meeting to get approval for further action.
Currently the ministry is gathering data and information before it is presented in August, she added. — Bernama