Cleaning Of Nagpur Streets By Police For G20

AHEAD OF the G20 meet in Nagpur, armed by a circular prohibiting beggars and other such groups of people from gathering at traffic junctions chowks and seeking money, the city police and civic authorities have begun clearing the streets of homeless population, including de-notified and nomadic communities, directing them to go off city limits.

CRITICISM BY ACTIVIST

The administrations move has drawn criticism from activists, who have said the order criminalises the poor and vulnerable members of society. The circular was issued by the office of the Nagpur police commissioner on March 8 stating that criminal action will be taken against those posing as beggars and persons unauthorised occupying footpaths, traffic islands and dividers.

CIVIC OFFICIALS

A civic official said that police and the civic body were approaching the persons, offering them assistance to leave for their home towns or move to shelter homes. The infrastructure in the city, however, is far less to shelter those who will come within the police circulars ambit and face displacement. Nagpur was one of the two cities along with Mumbai chosen by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in January 2020 as part of a national campaign for a comprehensive rehabilitation of people engaged in beggary.

TARGETING COMMUNITIES

Lawyer Disha Wadekar said that the targeting of communities who are wandering in search of livelihood is not limited to the police circular but dates back to the colonial era, which had enacted the Criminal Tribes Act, criminalising the communities. She said that the Habitual Offenders Act and such criminal action continues to be faced by nomadic and denotified communities. Through these laws, there has been a systematic targeting of these communities creating a vicious cycle of stigma for them.