The Vasco-based ARZ NGO has claimed that the begging racket is spreading across the state and the same needs to be investigated as the beggars living on the footpath are vulnerable to sexual abuse.
According to the president of ARZ NGO ARUN Pandey, there is a possibility of beginning racket operations in Goa from the other state like Karnataka, and he demanded a thorough inquiry into the same. “There is a need for a thorough investigation of the families living on the streets of Goa. The intervention from NGO came following the kidnapping of an eleven-month-old baby from Vasco da Gama, Goa.
According to Mr. Pandey, there are wide possibilities of organizations from neighboring states forcing the children to beg in Goa. “There are high chances that the organizations are running in states like Karnataka wherein they are forcing children into begging and surviving at their cost. The children are sent to Goa for begging and the money is later collected by them. Goa being a tourist state becomes a big market for begging.”
Mr. Pandey has identified the three categories of beggars in the state. First is the Poor and Handicapped who resorted to begging for survival. Second, comes to the category of easy money-making beggars who don’t want to work hard to survive and the third category consists of addicts, who have become addicted to begging and cannot live without it.
“There are so many laws like anti-begging and anti-trafficking, Goa Children’s Act, etc and initiative should be taken by different organizations to rehabilitate and improve the lifestyle of such people, especially the children,” he said.
According to Mr. Pandey, the best way to crack down on this begging racket is to do the DNA test of the children with their parents to assure that children are not being trafficked. “The DNA test of children with their so-called parents will be the way out to remove the children from the begging racket, they cannot be left in their custody based on mere certificates. There is a high possibility that they are not their own children. There could be more such cases discovered,” said Pandey.
He added that a study of ARZ with students of Salgaonkar Law College revealed that the children and beggars living on the footpaths are vulnerable to sexual abuse and the worst part is that there are no CCTVs to understand the crime and very difficult to trace the culprits.
Recalling an incident that happened in Margao, he said, “So far in Goa, two kidnapping cases of children happened and fortunately both the cases were detected and children were back in the custody of the parents. But what is required, is prevention.”
