New law to rehabilitate beggars

The House passed a new law yesterday to rehabilitate beggars, vagabonds and shelterless people, bringing them to the mainstream of national development.
The House passed the law titled "Vagabond and Shelterless Persons (Rehabilitation) Bill- 2011 as proposed by the parliamentary standing committee.
Minister for Social Welfare Enamul Haque Shahid placed the bill on May 22 in the House with a view to rehabilitating the beggars, vagabonds and shelterless people.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairmen A K M Mozammel Hossain submitted the report to the House.
Shahid told the House that the government has taken the issue of vagabonds into cognisance in view of the current socio-economic situation of the country as the existing law 'Bengal Vagrancy Act-1943 seems to be ineffective in many cases.
He said the vagabonds and shelterless people are engaged in various occupations, which are ungraceful for them as well as for the nation as a whole. They are even engaged in many risky occupations making their lives vulnerable to death and serious injuries.
They are also involved in many unsocial activities including stealing, robbery, drug addiction and smuggling, the minister said, adding that this kind of practices are making them crippled affecting the socio-economic development of the country.
In this situation, he said the government has decided to establish rehabilitation centres at government and private levels in Dhaka and different district headquarters to provide them with shelter and arrange jobs.
Under the new law, a vagabond advisory board will be established headed by the Social Welfare Secretary and Director General of the Social Welfare Directorate as the member secretary. The advisory board will have members from police, divisional commissioner office, PM's office and various ministries and departments.
The law will empower the government to appoint magistrates to pick up the beggars and vagabonds from their designated areas and send them to the rehabilitation centres.
The law will also have provision for punitive action against the persons who would instigate any child or woman to get engaged in begging under the Penal Code-1890, Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000 and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance-1976 and other existing laws.