BHOPAL: Nearly 17 women and children who used to beg were rescued from railway stations in the city on Friday. It was part of the second phase of month-long anti begging campaign which aim to make Bhopal beggars free city. The first phase of the campaign was held at MP Nagar on March 2.
The drive is being organised by department of women and child development of MP, police and 10 NGOs under the direction Bhopal commissioner Kalpana Shrivastava. Childline director Archana Sahay told Free Press, “Today, we rescued seven women and 10 children from railway stations and later, they were sent to Nirbhaya Ashram at 10 No. Market. At first, women were reluctant to come with us. So, we have to take help of police.” “Among them, we rescued a 15-yrs-old girl with a man. She called herself 21 years and married, but the man refused to accept her as his wife and ran away.
Now, we will get her medical check up done. If she is found to be a minor in the report, we will send her to balika grih,” said Sahay adding that “we also rescued such family whose financial condition was compromised.” She said “The drive is organised once a week. Later we will carry out a survey on women and children who beg. The drive will run with rehabilitation plan. The project is so big that we can’t do alone. It also requires a lot of funds. Some more departments like health, social justice and education will be added with it.” “The aim of the campaign is to make the city free of beggars. We also need support from media, which can pitch in by making people not give alms. We also want that some clubs like Rotary and Lion join us,” she added.
