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Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said there are very few beggars in the country right now except for professional ones as rehabilitation programmes for the latter bear little outcome.
“As per my estimation, there are 0.6 million beggars in the country whom we couldn’t refrain from begging; no matter what we do for them, they return to their profession,” he said.
The finance minister was speaking as the chief guest at an award giving ceremony to honour best Corruption Prevention Committees (CPC) organised by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at the Jatiya Natyashala auditorium of Shilpakala Academy in the capital city.
Presided over by ACC chairman Iqbal Mahmood, the programme was also addressed by ACC commissioner AFM Aminul Islam, director general (prevention) Md Jafar Iqbal and leaders of different units of CPCs.
Referring to declined rate of poverty, Muhith said, “It is a common phenomenon that some people will beg for their whole life, but the government will do everything for them who beg because of need.”
He added that no one dies in the country right now because of poverty or scarcity of food.
The anti-graft body awarded CPCs of different districts and upazilas in Dhaka and Mymensingh for their role in preventing grafts in the society and raising anti-corruption awareness among the citizens.