Puri: The Puri District Administration on Tuesday kicked off Saksham Abhiyan under the ‘Niladri Nilaya Yojana’ to make the city beggar-free.
A team of senior officials with the help of local NGOs brought beggars from Badadanda (Grand Road) and rehabilitated them in a shelter home at Sarvodaya Nagar on the outskirts of the city, providing them with food, clothes and medicines free of cost.
On the first day, 31 beggars, including some elderly persons, differently-abled were rescued from the Badadanda area and then shifted to the shelter home after counselling.
The district administration will also take steps to bring the beggars back into the mainstream society.
A total of eight Niladri Nilayas (rehabilitation centres) for beggars have been set up in Puri district of which six have been operationalised.
The district administration has launched the Niladri Nilaya Yojana with the assistance from of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department.
It may be mentioned that the SSEPD Minister Ashok Chandra Panda in a statement in the State Assembly had informed that a total of 366 persons beg along the Badadanda in Puri.
