Daily Times

Pakistan is in a state of lockdown these days due to outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, with movements restricted, industries closed, air, train and road travels suspended, and people told to stay home. Social distancing, quarantines and the closure of businesses is having enormous economic consequences for industry workers, domestic workers and other low-income groups in the country. Sensing the severity of the situation, philanthropists and a number of charity organizations have jumped into the field to help mitigate the sufferings of the down-trodden segments of the society. At the same time, the incumbent government has also launched a number of initiatives to protect low-income groups affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. While these public and private initiatives are a ray of hope for the poor and the vulnerable in these testing times, efficacy of all such efforts faces a unique but serious threat: the beggar mafia.

Like coronavirus, begging has also become a global challenge. Today, the begging is considered to be the easiest way of accumulating money. Begging mafia is working in the form of ‘troops’ and ‘tribes’ in every city and town, and using begging as an occupation. In Pakistan, beggary has of late turned into a form of ‘organized crime’, with beggars, at times, found involved in street crime and even kidnapping for ransom, under the patronage of different political and mafia groups. Portraying to be extremely poor or sick, these professional beggars, however, exploit the right of the deserving but veiled people who don’t want to openly pick the begging bowl.

Amid coronavirus outbreak, this beggar mafia is once again in the field, making it difficult for the needy to receive help from those who donate or want to donate to the deserving. Thousands of fake beggars are present on the roads of all big cities of the country these days, who collect ration bags from the citizens and welfare organizations during the day and sell those on different shops in the evening. In multiple cases, all members of a same family are ‘deputed’ at different ‘lucrative’ points in the city, who collect ration during the day and handover it to their ‘head’ in the evening for onward sale at shops. In a video recently recorded by a shopkeeper in Karachi, one such beggar can be seen asking for cash and other luxury items in return for flour, pulses, sugar and rice he had collected as donations by different philanthropists and welfare organisations.

While affluent individuals and the government as well as non-government organisations are scrambling to provide assistance to the poor and the needy hit the hardest by the ongoing lockdown in the country due to the coronavirus, such undeserving groups and individuals are exploiting the situation to their advantage. Different mafias and beggar groups have virtually joined hands to take maximum benefit of the government’s relief initiatives. Prominent beggar groups and their sponsors are working together and registering themselves as labourers and daily wagers with a cash assistance scheme launched by the federal government under the Ehsas programme.

While the government is primarily relying on welfare organizations for distribution of goods to poor households during the lockdown, no mechanism is in place to ensure that only deserving people are provided with ration and other assistance. Sensing the gravity of the situation, the police in Lahore and Karachi has already launched a crackdown against the beggar mafia in order to protect those people from professional beggars who are distributing ration among the deserving people as well as to ensure that the assistance goes into the right hands. An awareness campaign has also been launched by the police in these big cities to sensitize the affluent people as well as charity organizations about these mafias.

On Thursday, the federal government started disbursing cash assistance of Rs 12,000 per family under its special package to support the people badly hit by the lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of coronavirus. Under the scheme, a total amount of Rs 144 billion is to be distributed among 12 million families across country. This is a highly welcome step which will certainly help mitigate the sufferings of the vulnerable segments to a certain extent. However, there are reports that members of these mafias have got themselves registered with the scheme in huge numbers. The government needs to devise a foolproof distribution mechanism to make sure that the taxpayers money doesn’t land into the pockets of beggar mafia and their ‘sponsors’. Time to take immediate corrective measures lest all such relief efforts go in vain.