Nagpur: A mushrooming lot of homeless children are being forced into begging at traffic signals and prominent spots of Nagpur. The commuters are often bothered by these minors who insist on giving out money. This often creates an embarrasing situation before the motorists who helplessly jump signals to get rid of them.
As Nagpur Today took a tour of prominent places and public spots in the city, a rampant rise in the number of child beggars was quite evident. These kids sometimes clean the vehicles that stop on signals and ask for money. More often, most of these kids are seen holding the feet of motorists to beg for money.
Sources informed that most of these kids are forced into begging by their parents only. Most of these families take shelter under flyovers or footpaths.
Recently, police have cracked down on such activities and took action against the parents and guardians of these kids. As many as 14 children were rescued and sent to shelter home. However, the action failed to bring the desired result as the number of such children begging on streets are once again on the rise. During the police action initiated at the behest of women and child development department, FIR was also lodged against 7 people.
The child beggars dot the busy streets of Sitabuldi, Morris College road, Cotton Market square along with many other areas.
Citizens have also questioned that when the concerned department takes these children to shelter homes, then how come they come out in such a short period of time.
When Nagpur Today contacted Child Development officer Mushtaq Pathan in this regard he informed that atleast14 such children were rescued and sent to shelter home while 7 people were also arrested. About the rampant recurrence of such instances, Pathan assured that teams would be dashed out to take similar action shortly.
Pics by Vikrant Shimpi
