Gulf Daily News

Manama, Nov 30: A Nationwide crackdown on beggars and homeless people came into effect yesterday.

A temporary shelter that can accommodate up to 80 Bahrainis and people without citizenship was officially opened in Riffa by the Social Development Ministry.

Inspection campaigns will now be carried out in all parts of the country to register the beggars and the homeless at the three-storey shelter.

It will be provide rehabilitation and accommodation to the homeless and beggars until the government finds them jobs, said Social Development Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi at the opening ceremony yesterday.

"They will be provided with shelter for 10 days while the Labour Ministry finds them work," she said. "Two nurses have been appointed by the Riffa Health Centre to provide medical and psychological care."

Dr Al Balooshi said the shelter would help curb widespread begging in Bahrain.

"Beggars and homeless people of both genders caught will be brought to the shelter and will be provided with various care and service facilities," said the minister.

"The shelter will also offer various programmes that will help this group to stop begging."

"It will only accept a Bahraini or people without citizenships caught begging or living in the street.

"They should also be free of any contagious diseases or mental illnesses."

Before accepting a person into the shelter, specialists will try to find out the reasons that led to their state to take the right measures.

"A beggar will immediately be medically checked and the family will be contacted and informed about his situation," said Dr Al Balooshi.

"An able bodied beggar's case will be transferred to the Labour Ministry in order to find him or her suitable job.

"However, they will be provided financial help from our ministry if they are unable to work."

Beggars and homeless people in the shelter, or their families, will have to sign a pledge that they would not carry out the act again.

"A daily routine will be imposed at the shelter, including specific waking up and meal times, personal hygiene and various social activities," said the minister.

Meanwhile, a new law governing beggars and the homeless is scheduled to be implemented on Sunday.

Inspectors from the Interior Ministry will arrest beggars and homeless people and take them to the shelter.

The law has been approved by the National Assembly and ratified by His Majesty King Hamad.

The legislation gives the Social Development and Interior ministries the right to jointly oversee the issues of those who fall under this category.

"We are going to start slowly and take it one step at a time. However I am sure the first phase will include a lot of people," said Dr Al Balooshi.

"The first step of the implementation is an experiment where we will be evaluating the situation and accordingly develop the different issues we might face so the next phase would be better planned."

She urged all citizens to contribute by contacting 999 or the hotline number 80008088 when they spot beggars or homeless people.

"Citizens can play a major role by contacting and helping us to locate them," said the minister.

"The arrests will be carried out in a very humane manner and they will be taken directly to the shelter."

She said the number of beggars and homeless people in Bahrain was not determined yet.

"Beggars will be trained and provided with jobs and solutions to deter them from begging again," said Dr Al Balooshi.

"We cannot specifically say what will be all the services that we will provide to the beggars because we will get various situations and we will deal with them accordingly."

Interior Ministry human resources assistant secretary Colonel Hassan Al Sameem said that a team of 20 inspectors were ready to curb the widespread practices in the country.

"They will be arrested in very humane manner and will be treated with dignity," he said. "This goes for those who are arrested for the first time, but those who are caught again will be punished accordingly."

Col Al Sameem said the trend of begging will not be eradicated from the first day and that it would take some time.

The law stipulates that reports on all cases be prepared and their names compiled by both ministries.

Beggars who re-offend after being assisted by the shelter would face up to a year in jail and/or a BD50 to BD100 fine.

If beggars already have a source of income, then they will be sentenced up to six months in jail or fined between BD20 and BD50, or both.

Foreigners caught begging would be deported after completing their sentences.

People using others to beg for them on the street would be sentenced up to three months in jail and/or fined BD50 to BD200.

Beggars with families will be taken back to their homes after receiving the necessary check-ups at the shelter.

However, the breadwinner will be fined BD100 if the family members is caught begging again.

Beggars who have served their sentence, but are caught again, will be jailed for six months to a year.

The revenue from fines would be allocated to the social welfare fund, which was approved by parliament and officially set up last year.