So far, they have picked up some 500 beggars from busy junctions, traffic signals, main roads, bus stations, railway stations, bus depots and shopping malls. This sudden action plan is due to the proposed visit of officials from different parts of the country to study the project of rehabilitation of beggars being implemented by the GHMC, so that the same model can be replicated by their respective states.

A few months ago, the GHMC had filed an affidavit in Supreme Court informing the court that it is going to rehabilitate beggars by establishing beggar homes, temporary shelters and providing them with food, clothing and shelter. Based on the affidavit, the SC asked other  states to visit Hyderabad, to follow the model adopted by GHMC.

Worried by the visit of officials from different states, GHMC has started picking up beggars from the streets and lodging them in community halls and rehabilitation homes, to show officials how GHMC is rehabilitating them. Though the state government had assured the court that it would eradicate begging in public places, nothing has happened on the ground level.

A few years ago, the corporation made an attempt to rehabilitate beggars by shifting them to temporary shelters but 95 percent of them escaped and returned to their familiar trade, as they found it to be more lucrative, according to GHMC officials.

“We brought them to these homes and also conducted counselling but they always returned to the streets to resume their old profession,” said a GHMC official. However, only moving them to temporary homes would not eradicate the problem. They should be given elementary education and training in job skills.

People sleeping on footpaths, under flyovers, on foot over bridges and other public places will be picked up and shifted to the proposed night shelters. The plan is to prepare a profile of such people with regard to where they have originally come from, what kind of skills they could be trained with and thereafter, train them or send them back to their native places. If the homeless are children, they will be sent to bridge camps where they can be educated.

The GHMC had earlier launched a similar programme whereby beggars would be gathered and shifted to rehabilitation homes. However, the GHMC failed in its attempt and the project was abandoned mid-way.

Officials said the night shelters project is being taken up following the commitment given by the state government to the Supreme Court that Hyderabad will have night shelters just like Delhi. The additional commissioner of the GHMC, Ms G.D. Priyadarshini, said the night shelters project would be executed under a public, private partnership mode. The civic body is writing letters to corporate houses seeking their support for the project by adopting shelter homes.

“Around 40 community halls have been identified and they will be converted into night shelters. Depending upon the survey and number of homeless people in the city, more halls will be allotted for conversion into night shelters. The night shelters will start functioning in less than a week from now,” she said.

The GHMC commissioner, Dr Sameer Sharma, said the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences has agreed to support the project.