BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to make the state capital beggar-free, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to roll out the ‘SMILE - Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise’, a central scheme, this year.
BMC officials said, the SMILE scheme of the ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment includes a sub-scheme for the ‘comprehensive rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of begging’, to rehabilitate and reintegrate beggars into the society.
While the scheme has already been rolled out in 50 cities across the country in the first phase in 2022, Bhubaneswar is among the list of cities and towns where the scheme will be implemented in the second phase. Puri, Cuttack and Jajpur are also three other cities from the state where the scheme will be taken up in the second phase.
Accordingly, BMC officials said, the civic body is in the process of engaging a recognised agency for implementation of the scheme in which a fresh survey will be done for identification, rescue and rehabilitation of beggars in the city. A 50-bed rehabilitation shelter will be set up as part of the scheme, while a strategy will be worked out for comprehensive rehabilitation of the persons engaged in begging. The agency will also provide skill training to the beggars at the rehabilitation centre.
While this will be done with involvement of various stakeholders including government officials, volunteer organisations, social activists and general public, the civic body has estimated expenditure of about `30 lakh in the first phase towards implementation of the central scheme.
To be launched in the city for the first time, sources in the BMC said it will give push to the government’s ongoing efforts of making the state capital and other urban areas beggar-free under ‘Sahaya’ scheme.
The state-sponsored scheme of the SSEPD department is an integrated initiative for protection, care and rehabilitation of beggars and the destitute.
Under the scheme, sources said nearly 1,700 beggars have already been identified in the city, while the BMC has also set up five 100-bed beggar rehabilitation centres in its jurisdiction.