Bogor DPRD calls for poverty data validation to ensure aid reaches intended recipients

The Bogor City DPRD in West Java has requested that the local government continuously update and validate poverty data to ensure various aid programmes are received by those who are entitled. Member of Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD, Rozi Putra, stated on Friday that data validation is crucial because there are still many public complaints regarding discrepancies in the poverty decile data. He said this issue not only impacts the distribution of social assistance but also affects public access to healthcare services and educational scholarships. He urged the Bogor City Social Service to ensure it has conducted field verification or ground checking of the National Single Social Data (DTSN). According to him, Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD continues to receive complaints about mismatched poverty decile data, which has caused children from underprivileged families to fail to obtain school scholarships. ‘We ask the Social Service to continuously update and validate the data so that all aid programmes are truly on target and felt by the entitled community,’ he said. He assessed that the presence of unspent budget surpluses (SILPA) in agencies handling social welfare needs attention, as the allocated budget should be optimally utilised for vulnerable communities. ‘Even one rupiah of SILPA at the Social Service means there is a poor citizen, an orphan, or a person with a disability whose rights were delayed from being delivered last year,’ Rozi said. Therefore, he requested the Bogor City Social Service to explain the cause of the remaining social protection budget and to ensure that the budgeted programmes can reach the communities in need.