Madurai: After receiving the national award for making Madurai differently-abled friendly, the district collector Veera Raghava Rao is now set to eradicate beggary in the temple city. “Within three months, we will take steps to rehabilitate elders involved in beggary and make the city free from beggary,” said Rao to reporters at the collectorate on Thursday.
Madurai district has received three national awards this year. The Meenakshi Amman temple bagged the 'Best Swachh Iconic Place' award under the Swachh Bharat Mission of the Central government recently. The collector had also in January the award from the President of India for his commendable service in creating awareness among voters on the importance of voting.
“These awards are both an acknowledgement for our hard work and also encouraging us to do more work for the welfare of marginal communities. Our next target is to rehabilitate the senior citizens who are forced into beggary, because they were abandoned by their children,” said the collector. Involving various stakeholders the district administration would first identify the places where beggary is rampant and the reasons behind it. “Within next three months, we will definitely eradicate it,” said Rao.
Elaborating the steps taken for the welfare of differently-abled people, the collector said that the convergence of all departments to address the needs of differently-abled persons has been very effective in the district. “I wouldn't say we have solved all their problems, but we have been taking constructive steps to address their grievances,” he said, adding, about Rs 50 crore has been spent for their welfare.
The Madurai district administration has sanctioned funds to generate self-employment for them by giving individual loans and through forming self help groups, he said. To a query, he added the number of dengue cases in the district have come down drastically to 40 per day from 150 cases.
