MP writes to Sonia for rehabilitating beggars

JAIPUR: BJP Rajya Sabha MP Dr Kirodi Lal Meena on Wednesday wrote to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi for rehabilitation of beggars in Rajasthan.

Meena said he wrote to Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on May 18 this year for implementation of the Rajasthan Rehabilitation of Beggars or Indigents Act, 2012. “It is unfortunate that let alone implement the act, his government has not even made rules for the act,” the MP wrote in his letter.

According to the copy of the letter shared by Meena with media, the BJP MP quoted from an article Gehlot has written in a l ocal vernacular dai l y on Mahatma Gandhi, and from a government advertisement in which the CM’S message on Gandhi’s thoughts on the poor are included.

In earlier letter written to Gehlot, Meena said under section 3 and 4 of the act, the government was under legal obligation to rehabilitate beggars and the poor in the state.

“According to Census 2011, there are 22,548 beggars and indigents in Rajasthan, out of which 13,307 are men and the remaining women; 651 of them are in the 0-4 years age group,” Meena wrote.

“These people need to be provided shelter homes maintained and administered by your government,” the BJP MP said.

The government should provide food, clothing, medical and health facility, shelter, education, skills training for self-employment to these people, Meena wrote.

MLA WRITES TO GEHLOT Former urban development and housing minister and BJP MLA from Chhabra, Pratap Singh Singhvi, wrote to chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday to demand action against an illegal land allotment.

“Tehsildar Dilip Singh Prajapati issued an order on September 13 to favour former MLA Karan Singh Rathore about 4 bighas of land in Bapcha village,” the MLA wrote in his letter, demanding action against both Prajapati and Rathore for the land order.

The issue relates to a patch of land near state highway No. 51 in Chhabra constituency, Singhvi said, in which the tehsildar acted beyond his powers. The power to issue orders related to disputed land is with the sub-divisional officer (SDO), he said in the letter to CM.