Beg your pardon, but city can do without it
Begging is to ask earnestly and humbly for charity or alms. The City Beautiful is now losing its charm. Known for its literacy and development, Chandigarh now is surrounded by beggars at every corner, who chase people while risking their lives to implore for favours. Begging was considered a curse, but now it is a business operated by high-profile gangs. They abuse, beat and even maim children to seek more alms from sympathetic passersby. Child welfare panels find it difficult to retrieve kids from clutches of these gangs. Need of the hour is to join hands with fellow beings to help protect innocent minds, who may become a threat to the country. Reporting to the authorities concerned or circulating their pictures through media to unite them with their families and giving them food instead of money can end this problem. Law should make begging a punishable offence. Small efforts can help build a better future for our city. — Charu Malhotra, Mohali
Government must build schools
Nowadays, the strength of beggars in the tricity is increasing at a break-neck speed. The authorities must do something to address the issue. Education can solve this problem. The government should build schools, which provide good education for free to the poor. People should be encouraged to educate their children. More jobs should be created. Begging should be banned. There must be a check on beggars. These steps can end the problem of street beggars in the tricity. — S Gulati, Chandigarh
A slur which needs immediate solution
Beggars can be seen at different places like railway station, bus stops, roundabouts, markets and in front of religious places in the city. The moot point is why a people beg. Worse, homeless, landless labourers and other poverty-stricken people indulge in begging as they are unemployed. Destitute people fall in this category. Some children are forced to beg under big rackets. They also commit petty crimes. Anti-begging laws alone cannot tackle this gigantic problem. Infirm beggars must be hospitalised. Children who are forced to beg, must be sent to schools. As begging is considered a crime in India, physically fit and mentally alert beggars must be arrested and put behind bars. — SK Khosla, Chandigarh.
Donations never change mind of poor
About a year ago, I observed a car owner handing a Rs 2,000 note to a beggar, who was handicapped, at a red light point. Now, one can see many beggars at this spot. People should desist from giving such undesired donations. The authorities must challan such vehicle owners, who give money to beggars without giving a second thought. Donations never change mind of the poor. Authorities bear the responsibility of penalising donors and beggars. Beggars must be put in jail and taught how to earn for living. — MPS Chadha, Mohali
Is begging a humanitarian or a law & order problem?
The UT Administration needs to make a road map to tackle the problem of begging in the next five years. First, an account should be taken of total number of beggars by categorising them (men, women, children, sick and old) and the yearly increase in their number. An assessment has to be made for the accommodation required for them in homes for the destitute and rehabilitation centres. Thereafter, they must be given shelter and employment. Some work, based on their skills, should be given to them. Children should be sent to schools. People, who beg have to regain their self esteem and realise their worth. Those who need medical attention should be admitted to hospitals. We have to tackle this menace with a soft touch. We need to adopt a therapeutic rather than a philanthropic or a legal approach to minimise begging in the tricity. — Madhu R D Singh, Ambala Cantt
Send back beggars to native towns
As per enacted law, begging is considered an offence, but there is lack of will to implement it. The Municipal Corporation and the UT Administration wake up from slumber and act only when such issue is highlighted by the media and that too for a short period. To check begging, the law enforcement agencies should bust gangs running the begging business. They must pick up whosoever is seen begging and send them to their native state/town as most beggars belong to the floating population, who have made the tricity a base for earning by seeking alms. Alternatively, they can be removed from streets and accommodated in separate shelters and given work as per their age and capacity. The motorists/public should also cooperate to check this menace by refusing/avoiding to give them money even if blackmailed in the name of God. — AS Ahuja, Chandigarh
Administration should take stern action
Begging in India is a well organised racket of professionals. Chandigarh being a fast growing modern city attracts migrants, who are in search of green pastures, but many of them land in begging for their survival. They swarm cars for seeking alms, which paints an ugly picture of the City Beautiful. Women begging with infants sleeping in their arms are pathetic. They must be keeping kids drugged, an absolutely inhuman and highly deplorable act. The civic authorities have not been able to check this menace which on the contrary is growing with each passing day. Able bodied beggars must be provided shelter, food and given work to earn wages while juveniles and physically challenged be shifted to destitute homes and taken care by the government. The public too has to play a major role by not showing sympathy or dolling out alms to discourage them for begging. Even selling petty items at red light points should be banned to avoid accidents. — SS Arora, Mohali.
Govt must take care of physically challenged
Due care must be taken of physically challenged beggars by the government. They must be kept at one place and fed properly. Others who indulge in begging must be warned and if they don’t comply, then must be caught and put behind bars. Motorists who stop their vehicles at any red light must not oblige beggars just because of humility. — Tarlok Singh, Mani Majra
Beggars are a menace
We find beggars of all ages around light points in the city. It fills the soul with remorse. Why can’t this practice be eliminated from the country, which is one of the most progressive economies in the world. We as responsible citizens should also co-operate with the authorities by not patronising beggars. The authorities should not allow this activity in any part of the country. Persons giving alms should be prosecuted. Do we want India to be called “Country of beggars”? The authorities should arrest beggars and put them at some work. For this purpose, the government may impose a “Beggars cess” in order to raise funds. — Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Chandigarh
A blot on our society
Begging for alms has now become a business of huge magnitude. Beggars can be seen everywhere in the neighbourhood, trains, buses, markets, at traffic signals and where not. Big gangs are controlling the begging business. A number of innocent people and small children become victims of this business. Many children are kidnapped, drugged, tortured and maimed for begging. This is a blot on our society. It’s high time we draw a blue print to eradicate this social menace. Begging should be completely banned. Strict rules must be enforced to prevent begging. Awareness sessions should be conducted and steps initiated to rehabilitate them. Beggars must be provided shelters and imparted skills to help them get jobs. They must earn their livelihood by working and not begging. Physically challenged beggars should be taken care of in rehabilitation centres. — Dr Shruti K Chawla, Chandigarh
Menace must be wiped out systematically
It’s really hapless to witness a large number of beggars in the tricity, who adopt easy going life to earn money. The administration of the tricity ignores begging as it has no clear cut guidelines to deal with this issue. The situation becomes really difficult when beggars swarm around halted vehicles at signal points and beg for money while flouting traffic rules. Besides, beggars jump before moving vehicles to sell petty items at red signals, which distracts drivers. The authorities concerned should wake up and evoke relevant provisions of anti-begging to wipe out this menace systematically from the tricity. — Bhupinder S Sealopal, Mohali
Motorists can’t escape nuisance
The problem of begging is increasing day by day and making it difficult for motorists to escape this nuisance while they halt at red light points. It needs to be tackled effectively both by residents as well as the administration, which must ensure that beggars don’t stand at light points in the tricity as they become a traffic hazard. The motorists should also not encourage beggars by offering them cash or eatables in one way or the other. Beggars roaming in the markets, residential areas and sitting outside religious places should be motivated to shun the habit of begging and start some work (except those who are physically challenged, who must be taken care of). Social welfare organisations and NGOs can also help in eliminating this blot from the tricity. Combined and concerted efforts of the administration, social organisations and NGOs and active involvement of residents can eliminate this problem completely. — Rajender Kumar Garg, Zirakpur
Begging at signal points a regular practice
Though begging is prohibited, it is a regular practice for small children and young women with small babies in their arms, who surround vehicles at signal points and beg using pitiful words. They knock at window panes of cars and compel occupants to roll down windows. Sometimes it even causes an accident. The authorities are not serious to solve this problem as traffic policemen seldom intervene. Cops manning light points must not allow beggars at intersections. The public should not encourage this practice by giving alms to beggars. — Balbir Singh Batra, Mohali
A social evil encouraged by superstitions
Begging has of late assumed an alarming proposition in India and the tricity in particular. ‘Bhiksha’ is an old phenomenon, wherein saints of Hinduism, including Jains and Buddhists, practice this tradition to get food. Even in Muslims, you have ‘Zakat’. This is mainly missing in the community, which illustrates that they moved forward on the social issue. The ‘langar seva’ takes care of food and shelter, and hence that fulfills the basic needs of a follower. Beggars perform no useful social function and hence their existence is parasitical. Superstitions and orthodox mindset of our citizens, who believe that giving to beggars is charity, has to be first changed. The main factors that lead to begging are unemployment, underemployment, landlessness, poverty, calamity, famines and destitution. The solution is to have penal labour colonies, where psychiatric treatment, skill enhancement, basic education, medical facilities, recreation and nutritious food may be provided to beggars. A total ban on begging at railway stations and bus stands must be enforced. — Rajiv Boolchand Jain, Zirakpur
Flourishes with blessings of people in govt
Beggars’ trade is controlled by the local mafia with the blessings of the people in the administration. The government should construct homes and training centres where beggars can be kept and trained in various skills, which will help them make both ends meet and earn self respect. Children pulled into the racket must be checked before they are harmed physically and mentally. — Tejbans Singh Jauhar, Chandigarh
Stigma propagated by us
We propagate the stigma of begging. In my opinion, beggars are of two types, who beg by choice and others by circumstances. The former category is catastrophic as this includes those individuals, who are shirkers. They don’t want to work. It seems easy for them to beg. The second category is pathetic. They are beggars due to any physical deformity. The stigma of begging is propagated by us only. Most of us are ready to part with few pennies to support beggars thinking little that we are making them dependent on begging forever. The authorities concerned should arrange menial jobs for beggars so that they are not a burden on society. People also can give them a temporary task of cleaning their vehicles to earn money. They must understand the value of earned money. So, we all must try our level best to control begging by choice and ought to help the real needy person. — Bir Devinder Singh Bedi, Chandigarh
Don’t put your lives at risk
The authorities should advise residents not to give money to beggars at red light points as they put theirs and those begging in danger. The traffic police should strictly forbid beggars to beg or wander near red light points. — Sohan Lal Gupta, Patiala
Tricksters must be dealt with strictly
The Municipal Corporation and the traffic police must deal firmly with all able-bodied tricksters, who pose as beggars at traffic signals and try to touch compassion chord of car drivers to make them shell out some coins. They try to take advantage of the situation, when our eyes are on ticking seconds of traffic lights, one hand in our pocket and all ears to avoid honking from the rear. The situation at traffic signal gets worse every Saturday when some turbaned trickster with a bowl of mustard oil in hand demands some coins in the name of ‘Shani Devta’. Such a ploy increases risk of road accidents. — SC Luthra, Chandigarh
Onus is on authorities to contain begging
The concept of ‘bhiksha’ is deep rooted in Indian ethos over the ages when holy people took responsibility for spiritual and moral feeding for society and the latter in turn met material needs of the former. But in the present scenario, it has acquired an alarming proportion with begging becoming an organised business. It reflects the sorry state of affairs of the economy in our free democratic and socialist republic. Child begging is a shame, curse and a blot on India. It warrants a ‘surgical strike’ with all resources and might of society and governments. Only those, who are disabled or interested spiritually, deserve to be helped and cared for in shelters and ashrams. But the pity is that many able-bodied persons also beg. It is the people who ought to stop giving alms to undeserving persons, but free community kitchens should be set up for the really poor and needy. Onus is on the authorities to contain the menace as there is no dearth of laws. — Lalit Bharadwaj, Panchkula
Counselling may help in curbing menace
Often we see beggars at prominent traffic signals along with their wards. Sometimes they can be seen banging the windowpanes of vehicles even when the signal turns green and the traffic starts moving. This act can prove fatal. There is need to counsel beggars towards danger involved in their act. Some NGOs may be roped in for the purpose. Besides, they may also be apprised of the importance of education and their wards losing precious time on roads instead of going to school for a better future. — Harsimran Singh Thuha, Chandigarh
Beggars at light points are irritating indeed
Surely, beggars and even small item sellers are a nuisance at every traffic light point in the
