Jalandhar, January 12: In order to curb the menace of begging in the district, the Jalandhar administration has decided to constitute a special squad for nabbing the beggars to wipe out this curse from the district.
A decision to this effect was taken by Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Varinder Kumar Sharma, Civil Judge (Senior Division) cum Secretary District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) Gurmeet Tiwana and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Gautam Singhal during a meeting here at the district administrative complex.
Expressing deep concern over the prevalent practice of beggary, especially amongst the children, in the district, they said that it was creating a lot of nuisance in the district. So it was decided that strict action must be taken against the people involved in beggary besides making concerted efforts to insure their rehabilitation. It was further decided in the meeting that the squad comprising of officers from the Police and civil administration would nab the people involved in begging and take action against them as per the provisions of law.
It was decided as per Juvenile Rehabilitation Act, the children involved in this menace would be sent to welfare homes/ detention homes/ special homes for the rehabilitation. Likewise, it was decided twin strategy of prevention and rehabilitation would be adopted for the other beggars to shun this curse. It was apprised in the meeting that habitual beggars could be imprisoned for three years if was found guilty of begging again and again.
Likewise, it was informed that any person forcing a child for begging could be sentenced to five years of imprisonment. It was decided in the meeting that during the joint initiative of Administration, Judiciary and Police department all out efforts would be made to wipe out this curse from Jalandhar. It was also decided in the meeting that special awareness campaign would be started to sensitize the officers/ officials against this social menace.