Bengaluru top cop orders action against begging at traffic signals
The Bengaluru city police commissioner has ordered officials from law & order and traffic departments to launch a joint action against beggars at traffic signals, citing it as a primary cause of traffic snarls.
“It is noticed that at busy traffic junctions, beggars and others are collecting money from motorists which is not only obstructing smooth flow of traffic, but also causing nuisance to the commuters,” police commissioner Kamal Pant said in a memo.
Bengaluru has over 9.4 million vehicles and traffic snarls are often attributed to issues like inadequate infrastructure, poor quality of roads and Metro construction.
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Begging on the streets of urban centres across the country is a common sight as people plead with motorists on busy junctions. Children as young as five, senior citizens, and members of the transgender community are often spotted on almost every busy traffic light in Bengaluru.
Pant said that law and order and traffic police should initiate joint action against such people immediately and jurisdictional assistant commissioner of police of both the wings will be nodal officers for this purpose.
Police in Mumbai and other places have also issued orders to evict beggars but few have explained how they will be rehabilitated.