"To reduce poverty, the Palu city government should give local vagrants job training and capital assistance so that they can work or run a business of their own," Salim said after symbolically presenting assistance to poor people in Palu on Saturday.
Speaking at a gathering with Palu city officials and the recipients of the assistance, the minister said the local government should set up a job training center for tramps and beggars in the city.
"If the local government gives tramps and beggars job training and capital assistance to improve their skills, I am sure they can have a better life," the minister said.
According the social affairs minister, the presence of tramps and beggars in cities across the country had became a big problem for the government.
On the occasion, the minister handed a financial assistance package worth Rp504 million to Palu city for orphanages, tramps, beggars, and poor people`s empowerment.
Salim had come to the Central Sulawesi capital city several times before and presented a total Rp1 billion worth of assistance for poor people in the city.
Meanwhile, Palu Social Services and Employment chief Djamaluddin Parenrengi expressed hope that the assistance from the social affairs minister could help reduce the number of vagrants and beggars in Palu.
Besides, he said it could also reduce poverty in Palu which at present was 10 to 15 percent of 300,000 people in four sub-districts.
Djamaluddin said the assistance could be precisely targeted and useful for for the poor people in the area.
"The homeless were often disciplined and driven away by city security officers not long after that they return to their original base," Djamaluddin said.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
