Beggars on the rise in Guwahati

Guwahati, Apr 18 (UNI) Guwahati, the gateway to the North East, may be on fast track of development and industrialisation, but the number of beggars on its streets are also increasing cheek by jowl.

A recent survey conducted by Society for Social Transformation and Environment Protection (SSTEP), an NGO working for the shelterless, indicates from 300 in 2003, the number of beggars in the city rose to 1000 in 2006.

''Even though the rise in people living on the footpath are attributed to death of parents, extreme poverty, destitution, broken family and mental illness, in Asom the rise of beggars is primarily a fall-out of natural disasters and ethnic clashes,'' Simanta Sarma, a member of the NGO, said.

The concentration of the beggars is in the areas like Sukreshwar Temple, Cotton College, Jahaj Ghat and MMC Hospital, the survey said.

The trend of increase in the count of beggars had been highest in the last five years. 33 per cent of the city's beggars have been added in these years.

''Some of the reasons are population pressure on land in the villages, low productivity and unemployment problem among others,'' Mr Sarma pointed out.

The drought-like situation in the state in the last two years which affected more than five lakh farmers in 22 districts and the ethnic clashes in Karbi Anglong district in the last part of 2005 were the two factors contributing to the rise in the number of beggars in recent times.

The survey said 37 per cent of the shelterless are in the age group of 46 and above. Most of them are those who have abandoned their families due to tension and conflicts.

Also, mentally ill and retarded persons constitute nearly 44 per cent of the shelterless, the study found.

Sometimes working as wage labours, sex workers, cart pushers and rag-pickers, these shelterless earn about Rs 50 on average daily.

A section of these shelterless are people who have migrated from other states, mostly Bihar and West Bengal.

Mr Sarma said SSTEP is making efforts to uplift the downtrodden.

''While our campaign is still in the initital stages, we have shifted at least six of these shelterless to rented houses. A couple of them have also opened pan shops for a decent livelihood,'' he added.

UNI