Non-implementation of the Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance-1958 by the departments concerned is a major hurdle to eliminating beggary, a common practice in the provincial metropolis and other cities which increases every Ramazan.

Lahore, which has always been an attractive place for beggars, is presently flooded with thousands of beggars who want to exploit Ramazan and approaching Eidul Fitr. The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) has launched a drive, like the previous years, to capture professional beggars in an attempt to stop beggary.

Under Section 7 of the ordinance, any police officer, without an order from a magistrate and without a warrants, may arrest and search any person who appears to him to be a beggar and may seize anything found on or about such person that he believes to be liable to confiscation under this ordinance.

“A person, arrested under this ordinance, shall be released if he furnishes bail to the satisfaction of the police officer making arrest for his appearance before the magistrate having jurisdiction in the area where the arrest is made. If the person arrested is not able to furnish bail to the satisfaction of the police officer making arrest, such person shall be detained in custody and shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of arrest,” reads the ordinance.

About trial of beggars, the ordinance says when the accused is brought before the magistrate, he shall be tried in accordance with the procedure prescribed for the trial of summons cases under Chapter XX of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898). And if the magistrate finds that a person is a vagrant, such a person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a period not exceeding three years. The ordinance also mentions punishment of imprisonment of one year or fine or both for those employing people to ask for alms.

Officials say the main reason for expansion of the beggary is that the police, officially empowered to arrest and get beggars punished by the courts, are not performing this job.

“We are not supposed to arrest beggars and punish them as our jurisdiction is to rehabilitate them under a social welfare programme,” said District Officer (Social Welfare) Faiz Ahmad Warraich.

He said had the action been taken to implement the law, such an illegal profession would have ended or minimised at least. He said a couple of months back, he had pointed out this law in a meeting, chaired by the then district coordination officer, and requested the participants to press police to launch a crackdown on beggary but his recommendation fell on deaf ears.

“Now we should own and launch this campaign on our own rather than waiting for police,” Mr Warraich quoted one of the participants of the meeting as having said.

He said keeping in view the situation, the city district administration had delegated powers of magistrate to the officers of social welfare department in order to ensure arrest of the beggars without involving police. He said that though his department was only bound to rehabilitate beggars legally, it was performing the job of police these days. He said beggary had turned into the most profitable business under supervision of an organised mafia and the police would have to come forward to eliminate this permanently.

Talking about the ongoing crackdown on beggary, Mr Warraich said the department had, so far, arrested about 1,000 beggars since September, last year.

“In the special drive that was launched on first of Ramazan this year, we have arrested over 100 beggars, including women and children,” he said, adding that a majority of baggers came from Kasur, Sheikhupura and Nankana, there was a plan to detain them at the Lahore’s entry/exit points. He said a modern vocational training and rehabilitation centre was near completion at Raiwind.

“The building will be handed over to my department in next two months or so. Then we will be able to shift arrest beggars there for their rehabilitation in addition to other centres, working in the city,” he concluded.

Punjab’s cattle market management companies (CMMCs) have started work in nine divisions of the province from July 1.

The CMMCs have been registered under the company law and established in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala.

According to officials, the board of directors (BoDs) for each company has been finalised and the respective district or divisional administrations are working out to recruit their staff.

In Lahore, Lahore Parking Company’s Managing Director Taseer Ahmad has been entrusted with the additional charge of the CMMC till appointment of a regular person for the slot.

“The core objectives of CMMCs include overall management of cattle markets, finding and developing new markets, facilitating the cattle traders, elimination of middlemen’s role and exploitation in cattle trading business and ensuring free and fair cattle trading atmosphere,” Lahore CMMC’s officiating MD Taseer Ahmad told Dawn.

He said the BoD members include commissioners, DCOs, representative of livestock, agriculture, traders and other concerned. — khalidpak284@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2014