ISLAMABAD: As Ramazan began, an unprecedented number of beggars and alms seekers surfaced in the commercial centers and bazaars of private housing societies, causing a nuisance for the residents.
Housing societies like PWD, Police Foundation, CBR, and Pakistan Town have been taken over by beggars, including women, children, laborers, and eunuchs of all ages, obstructing traffic and business activities.
The lackluster response from authorities has turned these areas into begging dens, according to the residents.
Anwar Sheikh, a cloth merchant, reported that begging figures of all shades with stretched hands and weeping faces have taken over every nook and cranny of the commercial centers of PWD and Police Foundation.
The residents, who have been living in the area for fifteen years, have never witnessed such unpleasant sights.
Zarminay Gul Pasha, a woman at a famous bakery, said that it is difficult to differentiate between professional and deserving alms seekers.
Muhammad Farooq, a photojournalist, and resident of Media Town, revealed that a significant number of laborers who could not find work resort to begging, making the main entrance and intersections of roads in these societies their ideal dens, constantly disturbing the residents.
Muhammad Akbar, another resident, stated that a shanty settlement has propped up in the society where families, particularly from southern Punjab, have been accommodated on a rental basis by some individuals on their private land.
The sources added that Children and females regularly beg while males sit near roundabouts and U-turns on the main roads to fetch meals and food from the alms distributors.
The residents have demanded that the authorities launch a continuous and relentless drive to rid the areas of the ban on beggary to prevent the unchecked and illegal settlement from giving rise to different crimes that imperil the lives of the residents.
