Cheap rice being stolen: Dolog chief

JAKARTA: The head of the provincial logistics agency (Dolog Jaya), Hary Syahdan, confirmed last Saturday reports that subsidized rice for the poor had been stolen.

Hary said officials at the subdistrict or district levels were stealing some of the rice during distribution, dismissing the possibility that discrepancies in the subsidized rice program resulted from mistakes by Dolog Jaya officials during the weighing of the rice.

Dolog Jaya is responsible for the distribution of subsidized rice to poor communities across the capital. The program is part of the central government's efforts to offset the impact on the poor of the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy.

Under the subsidized rice program, poor families are allowed to buy 20 kilograms of rice per month for Rp 1,000 per kilogram (11 US cents), compared to the market price of Rp 2,800 per kilogram.

But according to reports, a number of poor families, such as those in Muara Angke, North Jakarta, have only been give 19.5 kilograms of rice. And some families in places such as Klender, East Jakarta, have not received any rice under the program.--JP