As the Global Entrepreneurship Summit ended, beggars have started to re-appear all across Hyderabad. The re-emergence has dashed the hopes of the residents who had believed the official claims that the operation to make the city free of beggars will continue even after the end of the international summit.

The hope to get a beggar-free Hyderabad had emerged after the Telangana State Prisons Department launched ‘Operation beggars’ on October 20. As per the report in the Deccan Chronicle, other government departments including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the police department too joined the operation 10 days prior to the commencement of the GES.

The operation soon became the talk of the town and was in fact extremely successful in ending the beggar menace across the city. Over 300 beggars were shifted to ‘Anand Ashrams’ and shelter homes. The city was turned into a beggar-free zone while it hosted the international summit.

After the end of the summit, many expected that the officials will continue to carry on the operation. However, despite promises from officials that ‘operation beggars’ will restart on 1st December, all seems to have returned back to square one.

Citizens now complain that beggars have started to appear in various areas, especially on the premises of religious places and major junctions. “From Sunday onwards, many beggars have begun appearing on roads and junctions. The operation was launched for making the roads beggar-free in view of the GES and as the program has been completed, no department is focusing on it,” a city resident was quoted saying in the Deccan Chronicle report. He also added that these areas were free of any beggars during last month.

The officials have said that they would carry out the operation and make the city beggar-free again. “We will launch the operation again. We stand by our promise to give Rs 500 cash reward to those who pass us information on beggars after December 25,” said Vinoy Kumar Singh, Director General of Telangana Prisons.