Rehabilitation and remedy for beggars in cities

It is undeniable that beggars are everywhere in the city of Dhaka - at traffic signals, peering into taxi windows, bedraggled, haggard and breaking into a sudden smile when a few coins are dropped into their palms. Dhaka is now the city of the beggars. Even a disabled beggar does not hesitate to reach me on the 6th floor of Islamic Foundation Bhaban where I do job. In a one-hour journey by a public vehicle in Dhaka, one would have to face at least 10 to 20 beggars at different traffic signals and bus stops. Streams of seasonal beggars have flooded the city of Dhaka with a view to earning some extra money to face the hard days. Rural-urban divide and the fast growth of both rich and the poor sections of the society have given rise to this picture.
Beggars are a big problem in the cities. And the number of beggars is increasing ominously. The syndicates of beggars are using novel techniques to make people give money. Children are being used in large numbers in this despicable profession. Some syndicates steal children and impair or deform their limbs for begging purpose. Begging is now a booming business. The beggars, in most cases, do not know who actually 'employed' them. The real traders always remain behind the scene and their 'representatives' guard the beggars at different city points. Their earnings are collected after day's business. Physically handicapped men, women and children are carried by rickshaws and manually-propelled vans and placed at city's strategic points. Some crippled beggars are provided with wooden planks or boxes fitted with iron wheels. A little boy or girl at times is found dragging them.
On several occasions in the past, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) rounded up beggars from streets in some posh city areas. This was routine exercise of the police authority to keep city streets free from beggars.  The alms-seekers were sent to rehabilitation centres outside the city. It is indeed a formidable task to keep the streets free from beggars. Invariably they return to their 'jobs' shortly after the crackdown ends. Such government steps to remove beggars from the city are not new.
All the successive governments in the past tried in vain to stop begging on the city streets. During the rule of former president HM Ershad a large number of beggars were sent to rehabilitation centres at Duttapara in Tangi on the outskirts of Dhaka city. But the centres for beggars at Duttapara could not provide proper rehabilitation of the inmates. At one stage, those were found to be ideal grounds for population boom creating new problems for the authorities concerned. What has ultimately happened to Duttapara camps is a subject of research now.
Mainly poverty and natural disasters are responsible for begging. A survey conducted by some NGOs in 2009 found that 67% of the beggars are involved in begging due to poverty, 20% for disability and 10% have taken it up as a profession. Seasonal beggars move to the capital ahead of Eid or after natural disasters, including drought, flood or monga. While I was walking in front of Khamarbari of Farmgate, Samad who is a professional beggar said, "I earn at least Tk 100 a day and do not need to pay anyone a commission to police. In my younger days I pulled rickshaw and often had to pay a commission to police and extortionists. Petty businessmen or rickshaw pullers who have to share their hard-earned money with the extortionists and members of the police are possibly compelled to get involved in begging.
To effectively address the problem of begging, the causes must be identified first which has roughly been done. First of all the total number of beggars should be counted. The social welfare ministry has taken a praiseworthy decision in this regard. Reportedly, ten NGOs have been selected to conduct a one-day survey on 1,000 beggars. After the survey, the government will rehabilitate 2,000 beggars in various shelters and technical training will be given on carpentry, automobile repairing, bookbinding and tailoring based on the age and abilities of the beggars. Reportedly, the plan is to provide accommodation to the beggars with disabilities, while the healthy ones would get opportunity of self-employment in the district of their origin. Earlier, during the ICC World Cup Cricket the government took steps to remove beggars from the streets of Dhaka and Chittagong cities where the matches took place. The Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) in its efforts to rehabilitate beggars had undertaken a number of steps so that they could earn their livelihood with dignity. After the WC Cricket was over, the beggars in Dhaka and Chittagong cities again returned to the streets.
Hundreds and thousands of high-rise buildings are vying with each other to reach the sky, inside all the modern amenities that can be found in the developed countries. Side by side, hundreds of beggars surround the cars waiting for green signals at every crossing. A contrasting picture indeed! Thousands of people are found seeking alms at bus stands, railway stations, markets, courts areas, traffic intersections and in font of temples, shrines and mosques in the capital and other metropolitan cities. A large number of them are women and children. "During religious festivals and on Fridays, we all gather at the graveyards, high court premises and mosques," said a beggar one day. It is a challenge to national prestige when able-bodied men and women are seen pressing for alms without any trace of shame on their face while cars are trapped in traffic jam with passengers worrying about the unnecessary waste of time.
It is known to us that the city dwellers suffer from acute want of domestic help. Both the husband and the wife now go out for work. Permanent domestic workers now prove to be a very costly commodity in the city. We know how Prophet Muhammad (SM) himself built the handle of an axe for a person who begged for food and suggested he should earn his living by his own labour. The prophet strongly discouraged begging.
Persons with physical disability deserve our sympathy and help, but not in the way we do it now. The ministry of social welfare must devise ways to ensure that they can have a regular life with dignity. We have big ministries, but the problems in various sectors remain year after year. This is because different departments just do the routine work instead of finding out new ways to address the problems. Begging, a long-time problem, deserves attention of the government, the civil society and NGOs. Pragmatic steps needed to be taken to get rid of it, as it does not bring anything to society except disgrace.
The writer is Assistant Director, National Identity Registration Wing, ECS, Dhaka.
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