Authorities survey migrants loitering at Margao garden

A Social Welfare officer and Margao police taking stock of the presence of migrants at the Margao Municipal Garden benches.

MARGAO
With authorities, including the Margao Municipal Council and the police, unable to stop the presence of migrants indulging in anti-social activities at the Margao Municipal Garden benches, the Social Welfare Department has now embarked on an exercise to ascertain the antecedents of those loitering at the garden.
Monday saw Social Welfare Department District Welfare Officer Supriya Mandrekar, accompanied by policemen, descending on the iconic Margao Municipal Garden, but for a different reason. Her brief was to find out whether the migrants loitering at the garden are beggars or part of the floating population who come to Goa and take advantage of the situation.
The team questioned migrants in the area, seeking their documents to verify their presence at the garden. The police clicked photographs of their documents for further inquiries.
The District Social Welfare Officer told The Goan that the team had tried to find out whether the migrants were into begging and to identify how many beggars are present in the city. “If the number of beggars is more, we might think of their rehabilitation somewhere in Goa,” she said, while insisting that rehabilitation would be taken up only after the number of beggars is identified.
The Margao Municipal Council as well as the Margao police have failed to keep the Municipal Garden benches free from migrants, many of whom indulge in anti-social activities, including public drinking and sleeping.
Recent attempts made by the police to keep the migrants at bay have failed to produce the desired effect. Suggestions made in several quarters by public-spirited citizens that NGOs distribute food to the homeless and destitute at designated places have failed to evoke the desired response from the authorities till date.