August 24, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 10, 1428

GUJRANWALA: The city is fast becoming a greener pastures for beggars from nomad and south Punjab families as an estimated 6,000 people with begging bowls can be on seen on city roads, Child Protection Bureau officials reveal.

Up to 5,000 members of nomadic families in Kotli Peer Ahmed Shah, Nawab Chowk, Awan Chowk, Alam Chowk, Pipliwala, Khiali and Ferozwala areas of Gujranwala are dependent on begging. A few groups are also running the ‘business’ by hiring poor children from south Punjab and they come from Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Fort Abbas, Hasilpur, Sadiqabad and Rajanpur.

One such is Shair, son of Chandu of Sadiqabad, who started begging in Gujranwala impersonating as a blind man two years ago. Seeing Gujranwala a beggar-friendly city, soon he brought about 50 children from his area and grouped them in two.

One group faking crippling begged in different areas while the other group carried charity boxes of religious schools and mosques went from shop to shop and home to home begging for a ‘holy cause’.

Shair was arrested in Chand Da Qila two months ago and sentenced to one month imprisonment and a Rs1,000 fine by a local court. He was released a few weeks ago.

Muhammad Nazir of Hasilpur has been begging in the city for the last three years. He says Gujranwala is not only a city of the rich but also of religious people who give more charity than other cities of north Punjab. Nazir says that he tried his luck in many cities but found Gujranwala promising.

He said nomads did not know any skill to earn livings except begging. He said male nomads committed minor crimes like theft while women and children went for begging.

Khadija, a female beggar of Fort Abbas, said her father had brought her family from Fort Abbas to Gujranwala two years ago. She along with her mother and six siblings beg in streets.

A spokesman for the Gujranwala Child Protection Bureau said the bureau had facilities to rehabilitate child beggars while adult beggars could be stopped by police.