By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi Friday launched an exercise to identify the homeless in the city to ensure that they are benefited from the social welfare schemes of the government and rehabilitated.
The survey will be completed in the next two months, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said after launching the survey.
She said about 150 teams will reach the homeless people during night hours in 500 zones of the city.
“They (homeless) will be photographed at the first instance and will be issued photo identity cards in a week or two. The survey will ultimately lead to homeless people’s integration as productive members of the society,” she said.
Dikshit said the government will plan rehabilitation and upliftment of all those homeless once the database was complete.
The survey will help the homeless also get inclusion in the current census and, once properly enumerated, they will benefit from schemes like ‘Laadli’, which aims to combat female foeticide and meets the felt needs of women and girl children, she said.
Dikshit also launched a month-long awareness road show by homeless disabled people to sensitise the target population about the survey.
Samajik Suvidha Sangam, a society formed by the Delhi government, is the nodal agency for the survey while St Stephen’s hospital is the chief coordinating unit for it. The initiative is being funded by the UNDP.