A recent order by Hyderabad police banning beggars on streets has set off jokes and memes on the social media. Not for the order per se but for its timing and wording.
Beggars are not supposed to be seen –at least in the posh areas of ‘Hills’ and the Hi-Tech City – when Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump and his advisor, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit the city for a global conference in the last week of this month.
Hyderabad is the venue for the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) on November 28, 29 and 30. While Modi will inaugurate it, Ivanka is expected to have extensive discussions on topics concerning women as the theme of the summit is Women First, Prosperity for All.
To present a ‘clean’ picture to VVIPs and thousands of international delegates descending on the city during that time, the municipal authorities are going extra mile to spruce up the routes the leaders will take. Understandably, the begging ban is part of that drive.
Now, read the order issued by Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy. “It has come to my notice through the public that many beggars are begging for alms in an indecent manner. They are also employing children and handicapped persons to solicit alms at the main junctions of the road. Such acts are causing annoyance and awkwardness …These acts are dangerous to the safety of the vehicular traffic and public in general.”
Needless to say, the order specifies relevant laws, rules and Acts under which beggars can be rounded up, prosecuted and jailed if they are found violating the regulations which will be in force until January 7 next year.
It is not new for the civic authorities –and the police — to make streets beggar-free whenever a VVIP arrives. But what makes the latest order LOL is the way it is put out. Don’t the police know about the menace until the public brought it to the notice of top official? For years, Hyderabadi’s have been crying for action against beggars at crossroads and very little has been done. How come now they have become an eyesore?
