Take back your beggars, Delhi tells other states

Eager to present a ‘clean face’ of the Capital before the Commonwealth games, the Delhi government and the Centre have urged states surrounding the national capital to take back beggars who have migrated from their states and rehabilitate them, reports Harish V Nair.

Eager to present a ‘clean face’ of the Capital before the Commonwealth games, the Delhi government and the Centre have urged states surrounding the national capital to take back beggars who have migrated from their states and rehabilitate them.

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There are an estimated 60,000 beggars in Delhi.

As per a recent survey by the Centre for Media Studies, a Delhi-based research organisation, nearly 90 per cent beggars in Delhi are migrants from states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

BR Singh, Joint Director of Delhi Government’s Social Welfare Department, said in an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court that this issue was raised in two separate meetings recently.

The first was of state ministers of welfare and social justice and the second presided over by the Secretary of Minister of Justice and Empowerment and attended by senior officials from Delhi's neighbouring states.

Bench of justices SK Kaul and Ajit Bharihoke is overseeing measures to end the begging menace in the Capital and issuing various directions.

To deal with this problem, it was agreed in the meetings that the neighbouring states shall forward lists and addresses of beggars home to the Delhi government.

Government counsel Mukta Gupta said the social welfare departments of respective states have agreed to issue orders to in charge of beggar homes there to accommodate them and take steps for their rehabilitation.