SARGODHA: Professional beggars have started flocking to local markets and roadsides ahead of the holy month of Ramazan to receive alms, which people give them to seek the blessings of Almighty Allah.
With the start of the holy month, groups of beggars, mostly women, children and old men, crowd markets, shopping malls, chowks and streets to receive charity.
According to shopkeepers, beggars use new tactics to gain attention of the people for the purpose of earning money by getting sympathies in the name of religion.
“Beggary is now a business. Mostly, the general public believes that the inability of authorities concerned to control beggars reflects that there is a strong mafia behind them,” said Azhar Hussain, a resident of Shaheenabad Road.
People consider giving alms as a religious obligation during Ramazan and beggars provoke their sentiments to get maximum money in charity.
When contacted, Regional Police Officer Sharak Kamal Siddiqui said that begging had become a profession and a kind of business
while police was utilizing all possible resources to control it under the law.
Talking to reporter, DPO Muhammad Faisal Kamran said that a comprehensive campaign had been launched to arrest professional beggars. He said that a special squad had been deployed to arrest professional beggars, adding that traffic police would also take action against them.