Notwithstanding the state government's policy on vagrants, Delhi police personnel play good samaritans

Beg to differ!

Notwithstanding the state government's policy on vagrants, Delhi police personnel play good samaritans

With the Commonwealth Games fast approaching, the Delhi government had recently come up with a controversial policy to clean up the capital's streets-to deport the thousands of beggars occupying Delhi's bylanes back to their native states. As a result, anti-begging squads are swooping down on the indigents at various street corners and rounding them up. But there are exceptional cases.

Helping hand This hapless beggar was the beneficiary of the
Delhi police's generosity

A few days ago, Rakesh Rajendran, a visitor from Mumbai, noticed a beggar lying naked and half-dead in front of the Commonwealth Games headquarters on Jai Singh road in central Delhi. Rajendran confesses he was about to move on, but the hapless condition of the beggar made him stay put. "I could not bear to watch the old man's situation.

I immediately rushed and got a bottle of water and a bed- sheet to cover him. The condition of the man was deteriorating so I took the help of the local police and asked them to take the man to a hospital. They looked at me for a few seconds and I thought perhaps they would simply ignore the situation," said Rakesh.

But what happened next was rather refreshing and unexpected. Within a few minutes a PCR van stopped near the man. "Around four policemen stepped out of the PCR van and asked the man if he was fine. They brought a stretcher with them and immediately rushed the beggar to a nearby hospital," said Rakesh.

Rakesh is going back to Mumbai with quite a story to tell. "We always hear about the inefficiencies of police but Delhi police's act of kindness touched me," he said.

Beggars can be choosers

As a part of its beggar rehabilitation programme, the government is imparting vocational training in accordance with the inmates' abilities and health.
The government also claimed that efforts were made to improve and expand medical care services to the beggars.
The Delhi government has collaborated with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to provide services to beggar inmates such as counselling and psycho-social support, training and capacity building.
Temple committees, Gurudwara Prabandhak committees and Railway authorities have been requested to help in the anti-begging campaign.

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