While crores of rupees are being spent to beautify Hyderabad for the international biodiversity conference COP-11 in October, citizens want the government to seriously consider making Greater Hyderabad, a beggar-free city. Getting rid of beggars does not mean that they should be thrown out of the city, as was the case during US President Bill Clinton’s visit in 2000, they said.
Citizens said government should come up with plans to rehabilitate beggars. Knee-jerk measures like setting up homes for beggars just for the time being will not serve any purpose, they said. Many motorists feared that physically-handicapped beggars may come under the wheels of the vehicle. “They move between the vehicles on small wooden platforms. While driving, we cannot see them, said Right to Walk Foundation vice-president O.M. Debara, adding: “Some women come with infants in their arms holding an empty milk bottle. It is cruelty to children,” Environmentalist Dr S. Jeevanand Reddy says the government should also look into the role of agents who control beggar gangs.