Minister says govt started project to provide accommodation and skills training for street beggars. PHOTO: PPI
Minister for Social Welfare Syed Haroon Sultan Bukhari on Sunday said the government had started a project to provide accommodation and skills training for street beggars.
He said that the project had been initiated to purge the society of beggary and to create an opportunity for those who wanted to earn for themselves instead of seeking alms on roads and traffic junctions.
Syed Haroon Sultan Bukhari said that construction had started on the first beggars’ home in the provincial metropolis.
He said that Rs64.41 million had been budgeted for the construction of the home. Syed Haroon Sultan Bukhari said that this was part of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s vision for social welfare projects and affirmative action targeting neglected and marginalised segments of the society.
He said that such homes would also be built in other cities under a phased programme. Beggary will soon be eliminated in the province, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2014.
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@Imran: Stigmatizing beggars is wrong no matter where they come from outside Pakistan or what province they come from in Pakistan. They need help and we are fortunate not to be in their shoes. The government is trying to address the problem and that is laudable. In Indian cities where begging is much more prevalent and beggars sleep on the streets, people don't ask them go back to the countryside so why this attitude among some Pakistanis about beggars in this country?
They should also arrange to move beggars from Punjab begging in Karachi
I say give them jobs rather than homes .
An average beggar 'earns' more than a grade 22 officer.The houses being built for them should only be given on instalments,by charging full cost of each house.Though from where I see this entire venture is bound to turnout as futile and just waste of public money,who are already feeding them beggars to the hilt