‘Beggar-free Chandigarh’ only on paper

Even as the “Beggar-free Chandigarh” campaign initiated by UT adviser Rajeev Verma in the last week of October has been extended by a week, the stark reality is that the City Beautiful can never be completely free of beggars, for thousands of them have made the city their home over the years and consider begging in the city “lucrative”.
Add to this an extremely weak law enforcement, the Chandigarh Police have been facing a daunting task dealing with beggars in the city.
As per statistics available with the UT police, till date this year, just 14 beggars have been arrested — all of them during the special drive initiated by the administration last month.
Despite widespread presence of beggars on city streets, even in 2023, the total arrests were just 18.
Worryingly, in the three years preceding last year, that is 2020, 2021, 2022, not a single beggar was arrested, even as begging is a crime under the Haryana Prevention of Beggary Act, 1971, which was extended to Chandigarh in 2003.
Until 2003, there was no law governing the city’s beggars who line several major traffic insections and main roads, with their number considerably increasing around festivals.
While police watch as mute spectators, beggars — from men to women to children, majority of them physically fit — are used to having their way, interrupting traffic and slamming windowpanes of vehicles, forcing people to pay.
A scrutiny of the arrests of beggars reveals that a number of them hail from remote villages of Rajasthan. Police had arrested 49-year-old Keshra, a resident of Chandawas tehsil, Chittora Rainwal, Jaipur, Rajasthan, from the Housing Board light point and also arrested 48-year-old Sonarayan, a native of Swai Madhopur in Rajasthan, from Hallomajra light point while they were begging.
These beggars were bailed out immediately as per provisions of the law. “There is no deterrent. When the beggars see that police are present but they say nothing to them, they get encouraged,” said a resident.
According to experts, legal provisions are there to remove beggars for encroachments, obstructing traffic flow and employing children. Rehab facilities are also available.
Chandigarh Police, anti-human trafficking unit and the UT child protection unit have been conducting rescue operations, while the excise department has increased vigilance in market areas to curb street begging and exploitation.
The administration has been urging citizens to contribute by donating winter essentials, such as new socks, gloves, shoes, mufflers, scarves and school supplies at designated “Neki ki Deewar” locations at Nari Niketan, Sector 26; old-age homes in Sectors 15 and 43; and Snehalaya, Sector 39.