The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Survey on to help rehabilitate beggars

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Survey on to help rehabilitate beggars

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JAN. 6. Yet another survey on the beggar community is on in the twin cities. And this time, the man behind it, the district Collector, Arvind Kumar, is sure that it will not end up like umpteen similar projects taken up earlier by different agencies, but will definitely see beggars rehabilitated and inducted into mainstream life.

The district administration, in collaboration with the Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare (HCHW), has embarked on the survey a week ago, aiming at an accurate headcount and other details, including age and gender, nativity, caste or community, disease history and number of elderly persons among others of tramps and footpath dwellers in the city.

NGOs' role

Once the survey is over by the end of January, the process of providing night shelter in Government schools will begin. Non-Governmental Organisations are being roped in to ensure health care with doctors in the schools from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., clean lavatories and cubicles to store their belongings, apart from bank accounts or similar facilities for their money.

Agencies like SETWIN, BC and SC Corporations and NGOs will be involved in a vocational training project for beggars through residential and non-residential bridge courses. The Government will provide food at subsidised rates as well. These phases of the project are to be in place by March, Mr. Kumar says.

End to exploitation

The detailed survey, he says, is to analyse the pattern of begging - whether organised or not, whether they have received any sort of education, the kind of people and reasons why they end up on streets while the entire project aims at doing away with the ongoing large-scale physical exploitation of young girls and boys using begging as a cover.

The survey, which is expected to cost Rs. 2.5 lakhs, and the rehabilitation programme, will run on funds from different Government schemes such as the Sarvashiksha Abhiyan.

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