As a measure to end beggary, the city has been selected by Centre as one of the top 10 big cities to prepare and implement national-level action plan to put a full stop to beggary. The result will be that beggars will not be seen in the city making Indore one of the first 10 beggar-free cities of India.
The campaign, expected to be launched by April, will cover identification, rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, education, skill development and sustainable settlement of people engaged in begging. Participation of other stakeholders including state government, local bodies and NGOs are sought by the Union government.
In response, state social justice department has appointed Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) as ‘nodal agency’ to establish coordination with departments concerned including woman and child development department (WCD), police and Childline for comprehensive rehabilitation of people currently engaged in begging and to ensure that every person has right to live a life of dignity.
As per popular sources in the city, the children who are found engaged in begging is provided accommodation in three orphanages of the city. This is taken care of by WCD. For beggars above 60 years of age, social justice department takes the responsibility for providing shelters but those shelters are in dilapidated condition and have given admission only to a few beggars in the last couple of years. However, there is no shelter to accommodate people beyond these categories.
On receiving Centre’s plan and instructions from the state government, the district administration has planned a meeting of members of rescue teams to take their suggestions in making action plan while another meeting will be held on February 7 of associations of industries and other departments concerned to help to make a rehabilitation plan for beggars.
The district administration had formed two separate teams in coordination with WCD, Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), social workers, Childline, Special Juvenile Police Unite (SJPU), labour department and police of the concerned areas to launch a campaign to rescue beggars.
If we look at the statistics, in the last four months, joint teams have rescued around 100 children engaged in begging and labour.
In this project, 60 per cent funding will be done by the Union government whilst the other 40 per cent share is expected from the state government.
(Statistic inputs from TOI)
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As we read above how Indore is on a mission to make the city Beggar free and rehabilitate the beggars. Also, they are protecting the city through its length and breadth by putting up the CCTV cameras in each corner of the city. Read to know more, here