Buddha's birthplace
becoming hub of Indian beggars
Rupandehi (Lumbini)
kathmandupost
Apr 16, 2017- A historic place Lumbini, better
known as the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, is becoming the hub of
Indian beggars these days.
Beggars sitting on the streets outside the
Mayadevi Temple and other stupas here and some of them carrying
unclothed small children has become a common sight in this Buddhist
pilgrimage site that lies in Lumbini of the Rupandehi
district.
They approach the visitors, desperately ask
them for money and even do not hesitate to halt their movement by
grabbing their legs if visitors seem reluctant towards their calls.
Such tendency really makes visitors uncomfortable and sometimes
leaves them irritated.
According to the available data, a large score
of domestic and foreign tourists visit this Buddhist shrine every
year.
It is a daily routine of some beggars to spend
the money they collected through beggary to consume alcohol and sit
on the street again in the hope of getting more money, said
security personnel deployed here. The site remaining in the list of
the UNESCO world heritage sites is witnessing an increasing number
of beggars mostly from India day by day.
However, security personnel deployed for the
security of this famous Buddhist temple are aware of the situation,
they prefer to remain silent on the matter. There complain is that
the Lumbini Development Trust doesn’t feel it necessary to respond
to their frequent calls to address the problem facing tourists here
due to beggars. "The Trust does not want to discuss this issue,"
said one of the security personnel.
When approached, the Trust employees did not
want to comment on the issue.