Chandigarh officials left begging for beggars! | India Gazette

Chandigarh officials left begging for beggars!

India Gazette (IANS) Thursday 24th January, 2008

They were ubiquitous at market places, traffic intersections and other busy spots. But suddenly Chandigarh's beggars seem to have disappeared into thin air - perhaps in a bid to avoid a rehabilitation scheme!

Desperate to launch a campaign to rid this 114-sq km city of beggars and bring them into the mainstream, education department officials recently started looking for them. But they were able to trace just 40-odd beggars. The rest seemed to have vanished.

Be it in the commercial centres of Sector 10, 11, 15, 17, 22, 35 and Mani Majra or at busy traffic intersections, the beggars are nowhere to be found after the campaign under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched by education officials earlier this month.

'The beggars simply evaporated after word spread that city officials were trying to trace them. We know that they must have shifted their activities to the city's periphery for now but that has hampered our campaign. They have left us begging for beggars,' an education official told IANS.

Two inspectors, eight supervisors and several SSA coordinators were put on the job for over 10 days this month to trace beggars for the campaign.

Most beggars are believed to have shifted their operations to the neighbouring towns of Panchkula and Mohali - both of which are adjoining Chandigarh and form part of the tri-city.

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