Badrul Ahsan :
Certainly, you have noticed a surge in the number of beggars in the capital? It’s because they are hired from every corner of the country. And a section of Dhaka dwellers brought these beggars in the city, targeting this season-the holy month of Ramzan-when people became sympathetic to the distressed.
Interestingly, these hired people are employed on contractual begging.
This vested quarter allegedly collect these unwanted people mostly from the areas hit by monga (famine-like situation) and natural disasters like cyclone Aila and Mora ahead of Ramzan every year and engage them in begging in the city of 16 million population.
The ring leaders prefer hiring elderly men and women, especially the physically challenged.
Besides, tender age boys or girls and women of any age with breastfeeding are prioritised in selection for begging.
According to intelligence and other private sources, around 50,000 new beggars
joined with the existing 40,000 beggars, making the city life miserable.
However, these seasonal beggars have been trained up on how to create sympathy of people or to make them bound to give tips because the Ramzan, traditionally is considered a month of charity.
“I was walking toward the Basundhara Shopping Complex from Sonargaon intersection, all on a sudden a beggar touched my arm and hobbled my way and asked for some tips citing his mother’s cancer. Whenever I gave him twenty bucks some of his fellow beggars also follow me and in a situation they compelled me to pay the same amount to each of them. It is really disgusting. There should be somebody to prevent these activities,” Nahida Sultana, a city dweller, told The New Nation on Wednesday.
“These beggars also active in traffic signals. They tap on car window-pane. Sometimes they bring hungry babies to the car. Sometimes, they make eating motions with their hands to create sympathy,” she added.
“Begging is rampant in city. We feel sad and uncomfortable by the sudden rise of beggars,” Amil Govrao, a European working in Bangladesh told The New Nation.
Meanwhile, shopkeepers of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned markets have also expressed their dismay over the uncontrolled begging in the city.
“Beggars frequently enter into our shops for tips and disrupt our business. They even don’t care whether we are in conversation with the customers or engaged in other business activities. Until we do not pay, they will disturb intentionally,” said Mostafa Anwar, a shopkeeper of Gausia Market.
“The beggers now-a-days do not accept tips below Tk 5. If the number of such beggars hovers between 200 and 300 a day, how long we can afford?,” an irritated Anwar questioned.
A similar situation you will experience at road-side shops and other business houses. These beggars are everywhere, even in residential areas, too.
Sometimes, they trespass even no-begging zones. None was seen preventing the beggars, let alone the law enforcers.
When asked, each beggar appears to be tight-lipped on their sources of recruitment, except a teen.
He said he and his employer share their daily earnings at a 30:70 ratio under which the seasonal beggars get free housing and fooding facility.
“After giving share to my boss (employer), I earn around Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000 a day. Elderly or disabled people earn over Tk 4,000 per day,” he said.
Acknowledging the sudden rise in the number of beggars in the city, State Minister for Social Welfare Nuruzzaman Ahmed said despite the government’s efforts, the menace is in place.
“We will vigorously enforce a ban on begging so that it can be eliminated within five years through rehabilitation and motivation,” he added.
“We have taken a set of initiatives to find out the root cause of begging. We want to offer them alternative livelihoods.”
“We will help those who want to go back to their villages to lead life anew,” Ahmed also said.
“We will impart them vocational training. For some others, we are ready to give old-age pension. For the rehabilitation programme, we need precise information about the number of beggars.”
Certainly, you have noticed a surge in the number of beggars in the capital? It’s because they are hired from every corner of the country. And a section of Dhaka dwellers brought these beggars in the city, targeting this season-the holy month of Ramzan-when people became sympathetic to the distressed.
Interestingly, these hired people are employed on contractual begging.
This vested quarter allegedly collect these unwanted people mostly from the areas hit by monga (famine-like situation) and natural disasters like cyclone Aila and Mora ahead of Ramzan every year and engage them in begging in the city of 16 million population.
The ring leaders prefer hiring elderly men and women, especially the physically challenged.
Besides, tender age boys or girls and women of any age with breastfeeding are prioritised in selection for begging.
According to intelligence and other private sources, around 50,000 new beggars
joined with the existing 40,000 beggars, making the city life miserable.
However, these seasonal beggars have been trained up on how to create sympathy of people or to make them bound to give tips because the Ramzan, traditionally is considered a month of charity.
“I was walking toward the Basundhara Shopping Complex from Sonargaon intersection, all on a sudden a beggar touched my arm and hobbled my way and asked for some tips citing his mother’s cancer. Whenever I gave him twenty bucks some of his fellow beggars also follow me and in a situation they compelled me to pay the same amount to each of them. It is really disgusting. There should be somebody to prevent these activities,” Nahida Sultana, a city dweller, told The New Nation on Wednesday.
“These beggars also active in traffic signals. They tap on car window-pane. Sometimes they bring hungry babies to the car. Sometimes, they make eating motions with their hands to create sympathy,” she added.
“Begging is rampant in city. We feel sad and uncomfortable by the sudden rise of beggars,” Amil Govrao, a European working in Bangladesh told The New Nation.
Meanwhile, shopkeepers of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned markets have also expressed their dismay over the uncontrolled begging in the city.
“Beggars frequently enter into our shops for tips and disrupt our business. They even don’t care whether we are in conversation with the customers or engaged in other business activities. Until we do not pay, they will disturb intentionally,” said Mostafa Anwar, a shopkeeper of Gausia Market.
“The beggers now-a-days do not accept tips below Tk 5. If the number of such beggars hovers between 200 and 300 a day, how long we can afford?,” an irritated Anwar questioned.
A similar situation you will experience at road-side shops and other business houses. These beggars are everywhere, even in residential areas, too.
Sometimes, they trespass even no-begging zones. None was seen preventing the beggars, let alone the law enforcers.
When asked, each beggar appears to be tight-lipped on their sources of recruitment, except a teen.
He said he and his employer share their daily earnings at a 30:70 ratio under which the seasonal beggars get free housing and fooding facility.
“After giving share to my boss (employer), I earn around Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000 a day. Elderly or disabled people earn over Tk 4,000 per day,” he said.
Acknowledging the sudden rise in the number of beggars in the city, State Minister for Social Welfare Nuruzzaman Ahmed said despite the government’s efforts, the menace is in place.
“We will vigorously enforce a ban on begging so that it can be eliminated within five years through rehabilitation and motivation,” he added.
“We have taken a set of initiatives to find out the root cause of begging. We want to offer them alternative livelihoods.”
“We will help those who want to go back to their villages to lead life anew,” Ahmed also said.
“We will impart them vocational training. For some others, we are ready to give old-age pension. For the rehabilitation programme, we need precise information about the number of beggars.”
