Prologue : After making efforts to turn Delhi clean and green, the state government is going to make it a beggers free place. The government has written letters to 10 states in this regard. However, only West Bengal government has displayed prompt response. Rest's awaited.
Though comprehensive data is missing, a sample survey in August 2009 of 11 shelters — capacity 2,018 — run by the Delhi government revealed that most outstation beggars came from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. That month, of the 1,518 beggars rounded up by the Delhi Police anti-begging squad, 1,099 were from outside the city.Letters were sent on February 12 to West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh too.
Epilogue : The beggers too look in fighting mode, in order to claim the born-native rights. Read what the beggers say.
1. “I was born here. We have not been told about any such order,” said Noora (12), who hails from Bihar.
2. “Why should we go back to our home state? We have been living here for many years,” said Sushila (35), a native of Jodhpur who begs at the Tolstoy Marg-Janpath crossing.“There is not even a drop of water to drink back home,” she added.
