Come January 1, Colombo's beggars will be rehabilitated, says Megapolis Ministry

A project to keep beggars away from the city of Colombo will be launched by the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry from January 1.

The ministry's additional secretary S. K. A. P. Devarajah said Megapolis Minister Champika Ranawaka's aim is to dissuade people from begging and instead direct them to a state-run centre. The centre would provide, among other amenities, medical facilities for physically and mentally handicapped people who invariably take to begging.

The ministry secretary said according to their statistics there were around 600 beggars in Colombo city and many of them were mentally or physically handicapped or were drug addicts.

She said a rehabilitation center has been constructed at a cost of Rs. 80 million through a joint venture by the Colombo Municipal Council ( CMC), the Social Empowerment and We l f are Ministry and the Southern Provincial Council.

The ministry secretary took pains to say that the move was not to rid the city of beggars but a request by the Ministry to those who have made a career of begging to stop the practice and seek help at this rehabilitation centre.

She, however added, that the move was also prompted by the nuisance factor posed by beggars who harass vehicle drivers and passengers at traffic lights and also increase the potential for accidents.

Sri Jayewardenepura University's Sociology Dept. Head Prof. Mayura Samarakoon said begging had become an organised trade with many women carrying infants, old people and those with physical disabilities exploiting the situation to gain the sympathy of the public.

The University don said the project, if implemented properly, had the potential to succeed. However, he said, it should not be a mere exercise where the beggars would all be rounded up and kept in a detention centre. He said the reha- bilitation programmes should be designed to fit the needs of these people, after looking into whether they were substance addicts or persons suffering from disabilities. He was sceptical about the ministry statistics stating that merely taking a headcount was not sufficient and that an in- depth study had to be conducted.

CMC's Charity Commissioner V. K. Anura, who is involved in the rehabilitation project said they would first gather information from destitute people in the city and then they would get back to them and direct them to the necessary authorities who would decide on the most suitable rehabilitation programme.