Beggars' Rehabilitation 'Anomalies'
JS committee wants expenditure details
Members of the parliamentary standing committee on social welfare ministry yesterday expressed dissatisfaction over anomalies regarding the expenditure of around Tk 7 crore government funding for the rehabilitation of the capital's beggars.
Beggar numbers did not go down through the use of the Tk 7 crore last fiscal year, said the parliamentary body, asking the ministry to provide a report at its next meeting detailing the money's expenditure and the beneficiaries.
“Beggars were not rehabilitated. We still see their usual presence on the streets. We sought to know how the money was spent but the ministry's officials could not give a satisfactory reply,” said one member, Apu Ukil, after a meeting at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
The ministry spent Tk 6.70 crore out of the Tk 7 crore to implement a rehabilitation project for beggars by providing them alternative employment.
The parliament secretariat, in a press release, said the committee asked the ministry to investigate the alleged irregularities in the expenditure and the money's distribution among non-government organisations.
The committee also asked the ministry to come up with the list of 10,000 beggars, surveyed in the pilot project, with their photographs and bio-data.
The government allocated Tk 10 crore in the current fiscal year to rehabilitate beggars.
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