Srinagar, July 28: Finally police has woken up to put a check on beggars who make public life difficult with men-in-Khaki claiming that over 100 of them, all non-locals, have been nabbed and sent back home.
 Police said the nabbed lot has been moved outside Valley to their native areas. “As we do not have any Beggars Home here and under rules we cannot detain them so we moved them outside valley in trucks and passenger vehicles,” said a senior police official adding that public complaints had been growing against beggars.
 He said the beggars were picked up during a City-wide campaign which covered residential areas as well as marketplaces, and even Masjids and shrines.
 Greater Kashmir has been highlighting the issue while senior Advocate BA Bashir in a recent article pointed out that beggary was legally prohibited in the state.
 Bashir states that J&K Prevention of Beggary Act, 1960 specifically prohibits begging at public places. “It (the act) said any beggar exhibiting any sore, wound, injury, deformity or disease to earn money is cognizable offence and any police officer under section 4 can arrest the beggar without any warrant and the offence is punishable from one year to three years by summary trial,” the lawyer said.
 Observers have been saying that apart from irking the locals at places like traffic signals, beggary was bringing a disrepute for Kashmir’s tourism sector.
  “They hunt in groups and when they get hold of anybody they want to make money out from the catch,” they said adding hoteliers had raised this issue with concerned officials a number of times.
 There are also apprehensions that the non-local beggars could be carriers of “communicable diseases.”

Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 28 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST