Beggars living on roadside potential Covid risk for all of Chandigarh
Near sectors 33 and 34, around 10-15 beggars have been living on the road, using one of the road signs here to hang their laundry.
With loss of livelihoods and no money to pay rents, seasonal labourers are now turning to begging and living on the roads. And without any money to buy masks or sanitizer, their lives and those of the people they beg from are at risk as Covid cases rise in the city.
Near sectors 33 and 34, around 10-15 beggars have been living on the road, using one of the road signs here to hang their laundry. One of them, Prahlad, says he used to work as a labourer before the lockdown, and had no other option but to sit there and beg. “People don’t give us much money these days, but we have no option but to beg. We go to the Sector 20 gurdwara for food and sleep here,” he said.
One of the beggars who refused to tell her name said she was from Uttar Pradesh and had nowhere else to go. “We are always on the lookout for policemen. A couple of days back they took away our rations. Even today, they were asking us to vacate. We move when they ask us to, but come back after some time,” she said.
Local area councillor Ravinder Kaur Gujral said, “Beggars usually settle here every year. A week back I had asked the police to remove them. I will look into the matter again.”
Meanwhile police officials of the Sector 34 police station said they had driven the beggars away earlier, but they will check the spot again to ensure they don’t sit there while breaking the social distancing rules.
Similarly, on the Sector 41/42 dividing road, beggars have even put up tents and continue to live here without wearing masks or maintaining hygiene. Speaking about this, local area councillor Hardeep Singh Buterla said, “This is an ongoing problem, and government departments including the police, the UT forest department and the MC are passing the buck. Besides begging, residents of Sector 41C are worried about open defecation that can lead to spread of diseases as well.” Police officials here added that they had asked the people living in tents not to come out begging and to stay within their tents till the pandemic passes.