‘About 90 to 95 per cent beggars are not willing to accept rehabilitation’

Hyderabad has 25,000 beggars and each of them earns about Rs. 500 per day — a business turnover of about Rs. 456 crore per year. Another figure thrown up was 14,000 beggars who earn Rs. 300 a day, totalling Rs. 153 crore a year. Children, on the other hand, earn more than adults.

These shocking numbers emerged from a day-long seminar on creating a beggar-free Hyderabad. As a clutch of NGOs were brought together under one umbrella to debate the issue, what became apparent is the scope of the problem.

“All of these beggars are not genuine. Most of them are criminals and have come from neighbouring States, even as far out as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Only 5 per cent of these beggars are real, the others are fake who are in it for the money,” said Jayaprakash Bharat, who studied the beggar menace in the city and presented his statistics at the seminar.

“We will create a beggar-free city,” vowed Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, while addressing the seminar. “Ninety per cent of the beggars are fake. We will create a mass awareness programme about not giving alms to beggars and at the same time rehabilitate genuine ones. These fake beggars are spoiling the image of the city, and at the same time, many of them hold criminal records,” the Mayor said.

The focus on fighting the menace should be about taking care of the destitute, the old and the disabled, said Madhavi, a speaker at the seminar.

“If we can create an infrastructure to help these people, then the menace can be solved. And we need to rehabilitate beggars if we want to solve the problem,” she added.

“About 90 to 95 per cent beggars are not at all willing to accept rehabilitation in old age homes, schools, and ashrams/orphanages. There are many reasons for them not accepting this proposal and also rejecting help from the NGOs. The main reason is that their incomes are very high,” said Mr. Jayaprakash.

“In this month of Ramzan when most Muslims give zakat, they should give the alms to people who need them. They should not give it to undeserving people,” said Khaliq Muhammad, who runs an NGO which works for the uplift of the community.