BANGALORE: Did you know that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) owes a whopping Rs. 28 crore to the city's beggars?

This amount collected as part of property tax from citizens over the years is actually meant for the rehabilitation of beggars in the city. But the civic body has been happily diverting the amount for other purposes.

Several reminders from the Central Relief Committee to the BBMP requesting it to release the amount have been in vain. This committee, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Social Welfare Department, is the nodal agency to rehabilitate and provide relief to beggars across the State.

As much as 34 per cent of the property tax collected from every Bangalorean is towards "other cesses." This category comprises 15 per cent education cess, 10 per cent health cess, 6 per cent library cess and 3 per cent beggary cess. The beggary cess and library cess are supposed to be utilised for the rehabilitation of beggars and maintenance of libraries respectively. The BBMP is bound to deposit the amount collected to the departments concerned annually.

"It is unfortunate that the civic body has forgotten this ritual, which is a must as per the Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act, 1975. If the BBMP does not want to part with the amount that is due to us, why is it collecting it from the property owners," a top official in the Central Relief Committee told The Hindu on Monday.

Accommodation

He said the committee needed the funds to expand its accommodation facility for beggars. "There are more than 5,000 beggars in the city and we are unable to accommodate all of them in the Beggars' Home on Magadi Road. We wrote several letters to the BBMP and they have been promising us that they will release the funds shortly. If we pester more, they will pacify us with Rs. 50 lakh or Rs. 1 crore, which is a meagre amount," the official said.

Unable to manage the finances and bear the expenses of more than 700 beggars given shelter at the Beggars' Home, the committee has now sought the permission of the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to send beggars of those States. "We have more than 200 beggars from those states at the Home," the official said.

Admitting that the BBMP owed Rs. 28 crore to the Central Relief Committee, Chief Accounts Officer of BBMP Deepak Doraivar said the funds were accumulated over the years.

"We have been depositing the amount periodically and we have paid Rs. 1 crore in March," he said and added that the BBMP was not cash-starved.

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