14 August 2004	Saturday	27 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

PESHAWAR, Aug 13: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that the provincial government would spend about Rs95 million on the establishment of a rehabilitation centre and a crisis centre for women.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Daar-ul-Kafala, a rehabilitation centre for male beggars at Sadique Colony here on Friday, Mr Durrani said this step would help curb beggary in the province.

Social Welfare and Women Development Department's secretary Shala Khan Afridi said that male beggars who belonged to the neglected segment of society would be rehabilitated through skill-development and education in a period of three months.

They would be provided accommodation and other necessities at the centre. The rehabilitated beggars would be given sewing machines and electronic kits to enable them to earn their livelihood through their vocational skills.

Mr Khan informed the gathering that the government had spent Rs6.5 million on the rehabilitation centre whereas a crisis centre at Hayatabad would open next month for female beggers which would cost Rs2.97 million. Women along with their children would be provided with basic necessities of life.

The provincial government has also allocated Rs1.4 million in the ADP for current year for setting up a similar centre for child beggars. Chief Minister Durrani said that the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal government would take concrete steps to abolish beggary from the province.

For this purpose, the government had issued directives to the Special Branch to investigate and make two lists of beggers, one of those who were really poor and the second of those who belonged to the gangs of professional beggars. Those involved in professional beggary would be punished according to the law, Mr Durrani said.

He said that those who would adopt beggary as a profession even after completing their training period at Daar-ul-Kafala would also be punished. He said the three-year project would be extended to other districts of the NWFP and to curb the menace of beggary. Senior minister Sirajul Haq on this occasion said that 17,000 beggers had adopted beggary as a profession in the NWFP.