BANGALORE: Exactly a year after more than 125 people died at the ill-fated Beggars Rehabilitation Centre, the living conditions at Beggars Colony might have improved to some extent, but the Social Welfare Department does not seem to have any inclination to ensure that the purpose with which the centre was started is served. More than 270 acres of land belonging to the centre have been transferred to other institutions - Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, The National Unani and Medical Association, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited and Bangalore Development Authority - and hundreds of beggars have died since the centre was started. The erstwhile King of Mysore had granted 308 acres and 33 guntas of land to the centre but now the centre has only 38 acres of land. According to the officials at the centre, they have not maintained records of the beggars, who have been successfully rehabilitated till now, and according to the information available with them only 20 to 25 beggars have been successfully rehabilitated. The centre was started in 1944. Once upon a time, the centre had facilities to involve the inmates in agriculture and cattle rearing. The agriculture activities have gradually come down and the cows that were with the centre were donated to a goshala, though the centre had sufficient facilities to grow fodder and take care of the cattle that were donated to the colony. Besides agriculture, the centre has facilities to train the inmates in carpentry, printing and candle making. Central Relief Committee Secretary Dr R N Rajanaik said, “We will start maintaining records of the beggars who have be rehabilitated. In other centres, we have successfully involved the inmates in phenol making and candle making. Therefore, we are planning to extend the same programmes to this centre in the near future. At present, we are working on creating a market for the goods that would be produced in the centre and the things would start changing very soon there.”
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