Survey on beggars’ population in State
14 rehabilitation centres will be added to the existing 14 in the State
A state-wide survey to find out the total population of beggars in the State would be conducted in the next six months, said Central Relief Committee Chairman K A Ramalingappa.
Briefing mediapersons at the Beggars’ Rehabilitation Centre at Sumanahalli on Wednesday, Ramalingappa said 14 more rehabilitation centres will be added to the existing 14 centres in the State. It has also been decided to recruit the required staff for the new centres. A state-wide survey would also be conducted in this connection.
Out of 230 vacant posts in the 14 centres, 103 posts have been regularised. The remaining 127 posts would be filled on contractual basis.
The district-level officials have been intimated in this regard. This process of filling the posts would be completed by next fortnight. A beggars’ survey was carried out at Hospet, Kamalapur and Hampi in Bellary district. Of the 296 beggars surveyed, 88.9 per cent were found to be Hindus, 10.1 per cent were Muslims and 0.3 per cent were Christians.
About 52.7 per cent were men. While 35.8 per cent belonged to the Scheduled Castes and 19.9 to the Scheduled Tribes, 31.8 per cent were unmarried, 58 were married and 7.1 per cent were widows/widowers. A huge 89.9 per cent were illiterates.
Although the BBMP collects beggar cess, which is three per cent of the property tax, the money is still lying with the Palike, according to Ramalingappa.
Even the Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum Corporations collected Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively, but they did not extend the money towards the beggars’ welfare, the CRC president said.
Shocking incidents
The large-scale deaths at the Beggars’ Relief Camp had earlier brought to the fore, the inhumane behaviour of the staff for dumping people in the Camp who were not beggars. However, criticism has not changed the attitude of the staff.
On Wednesday, another such case came to light when a man, who had left for his daughter’s place in Anekal, was brought and confined in the Camp.
