Guilherme Almeida
MARGAO: This might not only seem strange, but may raise many an eyebrow, especially in the light of reply given on the floor of the House by Civil Supplies Minister, Dayanand Mandrekar that there are no BPL families in the state.
A preliminary survey underway in Margao has pegged the number of families under the Below Poverty Line to around 750. And, many more families are likely to be added to the BPL list with the ongoing survey expected to be complete only by September-end.
While around 2000 applications for inclusion in the BPL list were received from the applicants so far, the Margao Town Level Federation constituted under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission has confirmed the names of 750 families. GSUDA consultant Celsa Antao, who has been roped in by the Director of Municipal Administration to coordinate and implement the National Urban Livelihoods Mission in the commercial capital told the media that the Town Level Federation has on Monday confirmed the 750 families under the BPL list.
When the media pointed out that the City Fathers may try to push the names of their supporters as part of vote bank politics, Antao said whatever applications received from the Community organiser Saiesh Satardekar, appointed by the DMA, is being reviewed again by the Federation. “The list will be reviewed from time to time. There are certain parameters laid down under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission for identification of the urban poor. For instance, those who stay in rental premises are considered poor under the Mission. Besides, rag pickers, woman destitute, widowed households etc all come under the preview of urban poor as per the Urban Livelihoods Mission document”, she said.
Doubts have been raised in the corridors of the Civic body whether the ongoing survey will achieve the desired results with the exercise being taken up with the help and assistance of the Councillors.
