Senior citizens shop for Deepavali goodies with RM100

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DOTING grandfather M. Aurumugam’s trolley was fairly empty, except for several cute and colourful dresses he had selected for his granddaughters.

“I used my RM100 ‘Jom Shopping’ voucher to buy three sets of dresses as new clothes for my granddaughters ahead of the Deepavali celebration.

“I wanted to get something for my grandsons too, but there were no items in their sizes,” said the 71-year-old who also bought a bottle of fizzy drink to be shared among his grandchildren.

The office of Kota Anggerik state assemblyman Yaakob Sapari had organised the “Jom Shopping” programme at Giant hypermarket in Shah Alam for a group of some 100 senior citizens.

Deepavali shopping: Subramaniam and Kaliamah with their RM200 worth of groceries.

Those who are registered for the Selangor government’s Skim Mesra Usia Emas (Senior Citizens Scheme) are entitled for the “Jom Shopping” programme.

The scheme is open to those aged 60 and above who were born in Selangor or have resided in the state for more than 15 years.

The programme was launched in mid-2011.

Yaakob, who is also a Selangor state executive councillor, said the day’s “Jom Shopping” trip was the fifth in his constituency, with the previous four held during the Ramadan/ Hari Raya season.

“The funds for the programme came from the profits from the sale of sand (by Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd, the state-owned sand-mining concession holder),” he said.

“The funds are channelled directly to the people, instead of going through middlemen.”

Husband-and-wife pair P. Subramaniam, 71, and K. Kaliamah, 64, bought some RM200 worth of groceries from their combined vouchers.

“We bought mostly groceries, especially foodstuff for our household use. The shopping trip is just in time for Deepavali,” said the couple who live in Taman Berkeley, Klang.