The government has decided to conduct a special mobile court drive against the beggars at nine important points in Dhaka city, where foreigners usually live, to uplift the country’s image. The drive will start after Eid-ul-Fitr.
The Ministry of Social Welfare finalised the decision and instructed the authorities concerned to prepare for the drive, Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The decision was taken during an inter-ministerial meeting on special drives against the beggars and their rehabilitation across the country, chaired by the minister at his office in the Secretariat.
The areas are Shahjalal International Airport, Hotel Sonargaon, Hotel Ruposhi Bangla, Hotel Radison, Baily Road, Gulshan, Banani, Jatiya Sangsad, and the diplomatic zones in the capital.
The minister said the government aims to eradicate begging across the country, and this drive is the first stage of the pilot project to eliminate begging.
The project will begin with the selected areas of Dhaka, and will then be expanded throughout the country depending on the outcome of the initial stage, he said.
“The government will take steps to break down the syndicates of beggars. Legal action will be taken against their godfathers or beneficiaries,” the minister said, adding that the operation would continue on a regular basis.
Begging is a punishable offence according to existing laws of the country. The minimum punishment for begging is three years in prison and the maximum is seven years, to be doubled for a repetition.
The minister also said the government had a rehabilitation project for the beggars, under which each beggar would be given Tk20,000 and other necessary paraphernalia for rehabilitation.
When asked about the government’s previous experience in this regard, Nasima Begum, secretary at the Ministry of Social Welfare, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The government rehabilitated 58 persons under the programme. Of them, 39 were rehabilitated in Mymensingh, and 19 in Jamalpur.
“But all of them returned to Dhaka for begging, selling the machineries given to them for earning a living. So we will proceed carefully now,” she said.
“We have arranged accommodation for 1,900 people in our Stroller Rehabilitation Centres. A total of Tk2,600 per month has been allocated for each person. They will receive training at the centres as part of their rehabilitation. Tough action will be taken against those who return to begging,” she said.
Nurul Kabir Siddiqui, joint secretary at the ministry and also the project director, said the government had undertaken the project in 2010 aiming to evict the beggars from the city streets and rehabilitate them as they damaged the country’s image at home and abroad.
The government operated a survey dividing the city into 10 zones, where the names of the beggars were enlisted.
The social welfare minister said: “We currently have a lot of programmes to feed and ensure food security for the people. We will be able to feed the beggars from those programmes. So, we believe that we will be successful in implementing the decision to make our country beggar-free.”
