The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : An avoidable traffic hazard

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

An avoidable traffic hazard

By Our Staff Reporter

A minor girl with a child in her lap begging at the RTC Complex junction in Visakhapatnam.

VISAKHAPATNAM, MAY 4. Minor boys and girls and women with infants in their laps and disabled grown-up beggars stretching their hands, for alms, at drivers of vehicles at traffic islands, of late, has become a common spectacle in the city.

It has turned into a menace particularly at busy junctions like Jagadamba, Asilametta, Ramatalkies, Sangam-Sarat, Marripalem, NAD Kotha Road, and Gajuwaka. They not only irritate vehicle drivers and co-passengers but also block the signal lights, denying the opportunity to drivers to have a glance at the signals.

"Of late, this has become a big head-ache. It's better if the police prevent them from occupying the traffic islands and causing irritation to drivers. Mostly out of frustration, people offer money to them so that they can get rid of them,'' pointed out a businessman. "They harass people in such a way that one is forced to part with some change,'' said an executive of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

Though some cases have come to light on renting out of infants to beggars by some poor families to draw instant attention and sympathy, no action is forthcoming. Vehicle-riders, by and large, feel that it is high-time the beggars were prevented from occupying traffic junctions.

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