Begging has become one of the popular forms of employment and self employment for some people in Sri Lanka. They beg NOT because they do not have money. They beg because it is the highest paid and least tiring daily job in Sri Lanka at the moment. But begging at colour lights has become a burning issue due to several reasons.
The decision that has been taken by the Police to fine the drivers who offer money to beggars at colour lights is highly admirable. It is because there are around 180 colour lights in Colombo and 350 colour lights all over the country. The beggars do not beg at colour lights if drivers and passengers do not open shutters and offer them money, food etc. It is as simple as that.
According to the Police, stern action will be taken against the beggars who beg from vehicles which stop at colour lights and a fine will be imposed on drivers who offer money, food etc to those beggars. This step that will be taken by the Police is highly admirable because sometimes beggars rob valuables once the shutter of the vehicle opens to offer money etc.
Sometimes the vehicles do not move when the green colour appears because the drivers are giving money and talking with beggars. Some beggars put their hands into three-wheels and threaten passengers asking for money. If not given, they try to snatch gold chains etc from the passenger, especially female passengers. The beggars scratch luxury cars etc due to hatred. They do it even after offering them money. Sometimes their conduct causes accidents.
Today we talk about this issue because beggars have become a direct threat to the lives of innocent people of the country. Anyone can get killed by a beggar at any time when considering the current situation of the issue. If Sri Lankan people remember things more than two weeks’ time, they should remember how a beggar killed a customer who visited a reputed supermarket some time ago. We do not need to watch the second murder and that is why we talk about this issue today.
It is very interesting to see the drastic transformation of Sri Lankan beggars which now has a direct negative impact on all citizens of the country. It is good that some time ago the relevant authorities discussed transporting the beggars in the Galle Face to a location in Down South, rehabilitating them and letting them live as ordinary citizens without begging.
But the issue is not that simple when examining the current situation of Sri Lankan beggars. The first problem is they escape from their new locations using all tactics and return to the same place or a different place and re-start begging. By now almost all know that begging is a wide spread business run by giant businessmen who earn over one million per day through beggars. Recently the media revealed how children at a Children’s Home used as beggars after burning their bodies and drugging them. This is a very small part of the issue.
The majority of beggars are now forceful and threatening people. Inside trains they threaten passengers by hitting them 
with various objects and shouting at them. Sometimes they bully some passengers. They hide inside car parks and other places in popular supermarket chains, luxury shops etc and threaten customers.
On May 23 last year (2023) the Thalangama Police arrested the beggar near the Nawala supermarket for the killing of 57 year-old Ayurvedic doctor of Pothuarawa Road, Malabe in 2022.
In 2022 he was hacked to death by this beggar near a leading supermarket in the Battaramulla area in Thalangama after he refused to give him money. Investigations revealed that the beggar had stabbed the doctor to death with a sharp weapon following an argument with a beggar who was nearby when the deceased was leaving the supermarket. According to the Police, the incident was captured in the CCTV footages in the supermarket. The suspect fled the scene after killing the Ayurvedic doctor. This was in April 2022 and he was arrested on 23rd May 2023.
There are several other incidents where beggars snatched gold chains etc of people when their vehicles stopped at traffic lights. One such incident took place a few years ago at Wijerama colour lights in Colombo. The situation has become serious because nowadays many drug addicts who are pretending to be beggars beg everywhere and they threaten ordinary people often. There are drug addicted families which beg inside public transport services, especially in trains. Usually it is the mother, father, their small child or two.
No matter how many times people are warned and advised not to offer money or anything else to beggars who beg inside public transport services, roads, near traffic lights etc, some people continue to offer them money, food etc because they do not worry about their own safety and they think that such offerings will help them to get more wealth or a better life in next birth. They do not see the plight of children used by beggars. It is purely assisting child cruelty which is a sin as well as a crime. These people can very easily donate their money inside or near private pharmacies where poor people come and walk out without being able to purchase expensive drugs.
The best place to observe the cunning tactics of beggars is by train. Anyone can travel in trains that run during off peak hours and observe what beggars do. All their `disabilities’ vanish as soon as the train becomes empty with very few passengers. Then they start their normal lives. The very first thing they do is counting the day’s collection and then they enjoy food and beverages bought from reputed fast food outlets. Then they take their modern mobile phones out and make calls. Then they check and re-pack their fake documents etc used for begging. They do it laughing at people who gave money.
But one thing is crystal clear. That is the children they use do not belong to them. They do not feed them or care about them at all. The children are sleeping all the time. Even when they are awake, they look sleepy. Many of the begging couples say that they need to beg and offer a `pooja’ to god in return for having a baby, cure a disease etc.
It is next to impossible to rehabilitate beggars and prevent them from starting begging because of one reason. That is the gap of income they earn from begging and doing self employment or some other job. The daily income of a beggar varies and it is well beyond the income of any other daily paid work. Sometimes some beggars earn Rs. 15,000 or more daily from begging.
but they earn bellow Rs.5000 daily from any other way. Therefore they prefer begging. The other issue is they do not like to get tired. That is why they do not like to engage in any other activity to earn money. Who likes to get tired if only Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 come to hand ? Who does not like to sit at one place or just walk here and there on roads or inside public transport services and earn over Rs. 15,000 within eight or nine hours ?
This is why the relevant authorities should be creative and make every possible step to prevent beggars from returning to their usual ‘employment’ after shifting them to a new location. Maybe the relevant authorities can select a location that cannot be reached by land or a location that is guarded by armed forces and Police for 24 X 7. Otherwise the money spent on shifting and rehabilitating beggars becomes a total wastage. Taking legal action against beggars does not work at all because the fine is very small and they return to their ‘job’ after paying the fine without any trouble.
The other most important fact is tracking their whereabouts after releasing them from rehabilitation. Tracking down can be very easily implemented through various state officials who are attached to every Divisional Secretariat without any duty. But the most important part of the whole issue is implementing the law against all `Businessmen’ who use beggars to earn money at a large scale and amending existing laws making them tougher than now.
