Intelligence reports to be used to nab beggar’s rackets

Islamabad:The district administration will now take action against rackets operating groups of beggars in the capital city on the basis of intelligence reports and footages to be obtained from CCTV cameras installed under Safe City Project.

According to the details, the administration has approved a comprehensive plan to root out beggary especially from urban areas for which it would obtain intelligence reports and CCTV footages from the relevant authorities.

“The crackdown will mainly focus on heads of rackets and their facilitators who use beggars including women and children for their financial gains,” the details showed. An official said the people who are providing pick and drop service to the groups of beggars would also face legal action.

“We will also take action against those parents who hand over their small kids to gangs who are involved in illegal profession of begging,” he said. It is no secret that beggary is a racket operated by professionals who control territory. Beggars pay rent to reserve a particular area for themselves and the busier the site, the steeper the rent.

Child beggars at busy traffic signals are a common sight in the federal capital. Not all children beg for themselves and their own survival, some are forced by others into doing it. Children are forced into begging by organised criminal gangs, which have syndicated links with certain other groups.

They profit from child beggars and the money they earn is usually paid to the gangsters. They use the children for begging to maximise their earnings from sympathetic passers-by in public places.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Memon has said that begging is a social evil and those who are handling beggars would be dealt with an iron hand. “We will launch a crackdown and then needy children and women involved in begging will be shifted to various centres for their rehabilitation,” he said.