SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: Raising concern over Goa becoming a ‘beggars’ hub, Bailancho Ekvott (BE) recently questioned the apathy of the government to address the issue despite multiple letters sent to the authorities on the topic.
“Where do they sleep, where do they defecate? We also don’t know whether these infants with the beggars really belong to them or are kidnapped by them or sold by them. There has to be a system in place to prevent the trafficking of children for begging,” Bailancho Ekvott President Auda Viegas stated.
“There is an urgent need of a rehabilitation centre for street dwellers and beggars and a separate body to tackle this issue in the State and a helpline to complain about the same. Able-bodied persons can be provided with skills and physically handicapped people can be directed to homes set up for them,” Viegas added.
“The police have to verify each and every street dweller and find out whether they are here temporarily and take their photo and maintain a database,” she added.
She pointed out that under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, a child found working in contravention of labour laws, begging, or living on the streets is called a 'Child in Need of Care and Protection’ (CNCP) and can be presented before a Child Welfare Commission (CWC) by any official, a social worker or a ‘public-spirited citizen’.
She also urged the government to install signboards stating ‘begging and giving alms prohibited here’ in prominent places such as traffic signals, intersections, religious places etc.
