Rehabilitation scheme launched for Bihar scavengers

Patna : The Bihar government Thursday launched a rehabilitation scheme for manual scavengers by giving them financial assistance to take up new vocations, an official said.

The government has provided Rs.30,000 as financial aid to 4,515 manual scavengers to take up a new vocation, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Department Principal Secretary K.P. Ramiah said.

"It is a help for their rehabilitation," he said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar handed over cheques at a function here.

"The inhuman practice will be abolished by March 2010 in Bihar," Ramiah told IANS here.

He said that the practice still exists in the state despite the central government's directive over two years ago to abolish it.

"The state government is committed to abolishing manual scavenging by rehabilitating people engaged in this practice," he said.

Official sources put the number of manual scavengers in the state at 15,352.

But NGOs working among Dalits estimate that nearly 20,000 people were working as manual scavengers.

Manual scavenging refers to removal of human excreta from toilets manually.