Citizens Urged To Discourage Professional Beggars; CTP Arrest 1269

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Mar, 2021 ) :City Traffic Police (CTP) Rawalpindi on the directives of Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Rawalpindi Rai Mazhar Iqbal, have accelerated their on-going campaign against professional beggars while 1269 were netted from city roads during February.

Talking to APP, Incharge Anti-Begging Squad CTP urged the citizens to play their role to discourage professional beggars.

He informed that the CTP had also lodged a large number of FIRs in different police stations against beggars caught from different areas.

He said that the squad had launched a grand operation and rounded up over 1269 during last month.

The CTP were trying to eliminate begging from the city roads and during their efforts, professional beggars were being sent behind the bars. Out of total nearly 80 percent beggars roaming in the city are professional, he added.

60 percent beggars caught from city roads were healthy and fit while only 20 percent were disabled persons and 20 were drug addicts, he informed.

A large number of beggars are brought to Rawalpindi from Southern Punjab, KPK, Sindh and other far-flung areas of the country and operating through contractors, he said adding, CTP had launched grand operation against professional beggars and taking action in accordance with the law.

Hundreds of beggar children netted from the city roads were handed over to Child Protection Bureau (CPB).

The anti-beggars squad of CTP and Rawalpindi district police was conducting raids at different roads and intersections.

Directives had also been issued to the squad to register cases against beggars and the report in this regard should be sent to CTO office on daily basis, he said.

The beggary was a social menace as professional beggars had become a social nuisance everywhere.

The CTP were making efforts to net professional beggars and their handlers to combat the menace of begging mafia, he added.

To a question he said that due to these professional beggars the real deserving poor people remains deprived so the citizens should play a role and discourage those not deserving and begging is their profession.

395