BHUBANESWAR: The number of beggars in the State has decreased from 6390 to 5950.
In a written reply to a question from Souvik Biswal (BJD), Minister of State for Social Security and Empowerment Ashok Panda said 5,950 beggars have been identified in Odisha.
In the July, 2019 session of Assembly, Panda had informed that the number of beggars in Odisha was 6,390.
The Minister informed the Assembly on Saturday that the highest number of 1,060 beggars have been identified in Cuttack district.
While Ganjam has 545 beggars, Mayurbhanj has 485, Sundargarh has 423, Puri has 366, Balangir has 344 and Boudh has 6. Deogarh district is at the bottom of the list with only 3 beggars.
In 2018, the Government had launched ‘Sahaya’ scheme to make the State beggar-free. The schemes main components are: Rehabilitation and providing gainful employment to beggars. Main features of the scheme are: protection, care and rehabilitation of beggars.