Colombo (LNW): Reports are being received on children and women being used for begging, and steps will be taken to curb this situation, emphasised State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe.
Accordingly, the State Minister noted that she will hold a preliminary discussion with relevant institutions including the police, local authorities, and the National Child Protection Authority to curb this situation.
Attention was drawn to this when the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Women, Children Affairs and Social Empowerment met in Parliament recently under the chairmanship of State Ministers Geeta Kumarasinghe and Anupa Pascual.
It was discussed that the use of children and women for begging has become a business as it is common to hire children for begging, some children are given drugs and used for begging, and women pretend to be pregnant. Although there are legal provisions in this regard, attention was also paid to the issues of proper implementation at the practical level.
The State Ministers directed the officials to take steps to get relevant data in connection with the survey of beggars in this country to be started by the Department of Social Services in September.
Accordingly, it was further decided to prepare a special discussion about this in the coming week and take immediate action.
MPs Pyankara Jayaratne, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Mudita Prashanthi, Lalith Varankumara participated in the meeting.
