Not even a week since Ivanka Trump’s Hyderabad visit, and the beggars in the city are back on the streets. Around a month before the US President’s daughter’s visit to India, Telangana police had issued a notice proclaiming begging as a crime.
According to a notification issued by Commissioner of Police M Mahendar Reddy, the ban had been put in place for two months. However, according to a report by Hindustan Times, the government-run shelters for beggars are almost empty, now.
Talking to Hindustan Times, superintendent of the Cherlapalli open air jail K Arjun Rao said that only 10 female beggars are left in the Cherlapalli shelter, while just 30 beggars are still residing at the Chanchalguda shelter.
The ban, which was supposed to stay till 7 January 2018, seems to be forgotten about. It made begging liable to prosecution under Section 188 of the IPC (for disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant), which could land you in prison.
The notice also said that persons violating the order would also be booked under the TS preventions of Begging Act, 1977 and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.
However, the inmates, while leaving, apparently, gave assurances that they would not beg again. The superintendent said, if caught begging, they’d be prosecuted.
The report also says the police in Hyderabad is planning to start a fresh offensive against begging from 25 December.
Hasty Beautification
Before hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Summit from 28-30 November, Hyderabad was given a hasty makeover by the government.
Awaiting Ivanka Trump, the authorities had re-carpeted battered roads and filled up potholes. Over 200 beggars were shifted to shelter homes in two jails. The officials, had however, said they were already working towards the beggar-free city tag and the drive was not related to Trump's visit.
This wasn’t the first time that such an order was issued, as a similar drive was undertaken to make Hyderabad 'beggar-free' in 2000, when former US President Bill Clinton visited the city. According to Business Line, local police then relocated hundreds of beggars.
(With inputs from IANS and The News Minute.)
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