Absence of any shelter home or rehabilitation centre in the city is leading to the increasing number of beggars on the streets. Despite repeated campaigns to control the practice, the city police have not been able to curb the influx of beggars of different age groups roaming at every intersection of the city.
The only action police ever take against beggars is to reprimand or arrest them for the time being. However, there is no concrete mechanism with the district government to provide them with psychological treatment or other rehabilitation facilities.
(Read: Begging for a solution - Crackdown against beggary proves counterproductive)
A visit to the main roads and markets of the city reveals that every nook and cranny is clustered with professional beggars, some of who are physically challenged.
The Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau is busy in rescuing children of 15 years old or less and catering for their lodging and education at their centres near Morgah. But there is no such law for the older ones, who pester the shoppers and commuters in markets and roads, asking them for alms and often interfering in their routine activities such as eating and shopping in public places.
A traffic warden said, on the direction of Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) they often arrest the beggars and hand them over to the relevant police station. The police, in turn, usually hand them over to Edhi centres or release them after warnings, the ward added.
About child beggars, District Officer (DO) Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) Irfan Fareed said the bureau was assigned with the job of rescuing children from beggary or labour and handing them over to their parents after warnings. They were also responsible for keeping the homeless in centres, where they were provided with facilities such as lodging, medication, education and psychological treatment.
As per law, the CPWB cannot take into custody the adult beggars, as it is the duty of the office of social welfare to provide with the needed facilities and psychological treatment to the destitute and professional beggars, the DO said. People should call the bureau at 1121 for rescue if they find a child below 15 years of age, begging or labouring, he added.
There is a need for enhanced liaison among different departments of the city district government for eradication of beggary, he said.
An official of the Social Welfare Department told The Express Tribune that there was no facility to give shelter to the beggars for their rehabilitation and make them useful citizens.
The official on condition of anonymity, said proposals for establishing rehabilitation centres and shelter houses for the beggars have long been before Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Moreover, he urged the need to amend the relevant law, the Vagrancy Act to make anti-beggary rules more effective. The beggars can only be charged with a bailable offence and cannot be sent to already overcapacity jails. They should be treated psychologically, discouraged from begging and provided training in different skills and trades to make them useful citizens.
The government has a set of facilities such as Darul Shafqat and Darul Kifalah for the vagrants, but these have never been active to provide practical support to the beggars, the official said. Despite repeated attempts via phone, the District Coordination Officer was unavailable for his comments on the issue.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2011.
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Something drastic need to be done...................................