Plan to rehabilitate beggars

Priyanka KURUGALA

The Social Service Ministry has drawn up a plan to rehabilitate beggars in Colombo city.

The Ministry has planned to launch this project with the assistance of Defence and Social Development Institutes.

As a first stage of the project the Ministry has planned to conduct a survey throughout the city to find out details and collect statistics about the beggar community, a Ministry source said.

The Ministry will establish a rehabilitation centre in Colombo city for beggars under the guidance of Minister Felix Perera.

After the survey this rehabilitation centre for beggars will be conducted under the guidance of the State Defence Ministry the Social Service Ministry, a source said.

Under this rehabilitation project these people will be provided self employment such as getting involved in small scale businesses and cleaning jobs.

If these families have school age children the Ministry has planned to provide them with education facilities.

The last time a survey of beggars living in the Colombo city was conducted in 2004.

Minister Felix Perera said that the objectives of this program were to harness the effort of this community for national development to ensure the security of Colombo city and contribute to the beautification of the environment of Colombo.