Over 20,000 taxi drivers risk not getting govt handout

Only about 8,700 taxi drivers have renewed their driver’s accreditation card.

PETALING JAYA: Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong has urged about 21,000 taxi drivers to renew their driver’s accreditation card or risk not getting a RM600 cash handout under the government’s Prihatin economic stimulus package.

In a Facebook post, he said only 8,743 taxi drivers out of 30,000 have renewed their expired driver’s cards as of June 14.

“This makes the government’s efforts more difficult to distribute the RM600 one-off Prihatin financial assistance to help taxi drivers battling tough times because of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Taxi drivers were previously urged to renew their driver’s cards by submitting relevant documents to the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) no later than July 1.

The one-off cash assistance for registered taxi drivers first announced on Mar 27 has reportedly benefited 29,447 taxi drivers to date. - FMT