Sir,
Just imagine! You are travelling with family in your car which stops near the traffic lights at Wave Mall crossing and all of sudden a barefooted lady carrying a sleeping baby in her arms knocks at your window with a look of helplessness, and begs by showing the child who is most probably either drugged or stolen. Let’s suppose another fine day you are about to drop your guest at the airport and again at the Satwai roundabout as you put on brakes before a red signal, you helplessly watch small children rushing towards your car under scorching heat, voluntarily cleaning your wind shield and forcefully making you pay for the favour you did not ask for.
Let us turn to Gole Market where you go on weekdays for routine shopping or on weekend family outings to taste spicy recipes at roadside eateries. The very moment you get ready to eat, you see beggars flocking in groups fighting with each other to proclaim their rights over you with the apparent authority of forcing you to shell out some change out of your pocket. Either you unwillingly share your eatable to get rid of them, or they will chase you till you get inside your car, performing the street spectacle for bystanders to watch free of cost. I remember that few years ago there was no such scrounging in our small but clean city which was free of the begging culture. Personally I have yet to encounter a local beggar at traffic signals. All are either from other states or from across the border. After the installation of traffic lights and the reconstruction of roads, there was a surge in the begging spree, causing an unfamiliar culture of disorientation, insecurity and even anxiety in our daily life. Earlier this practice was limited to certain places of tourist attraction and religious importance in the city but now it is gradually spreading like wild fire in every corner you go and at every signal you stop. It is under debate whether begging is an offence or not but using it to earn money especially when you are perfectly able to earn a decent wage by working hard is indeed a crime. My request to law enforcement and social welfare agencies is to kindly intervene and set the house in order so that the society can function in a normal and dignified way.
Dr Vikas Jamwal
(Kamdhenu Homz) Jammu
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