Buddha’s birthplace becoming hub of Indian beggars

Rupandehi / Apr. 16: 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. RSS