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Fewer beggars in Jakarta during Ramadhan this year: Agency
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A city agency is taking credit for controlling and reducing the number of beggars in Jakarta during the fasting month of Ramadhan this year . (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The number of beggars in the capital has decreased significantly during the fasting month of Ramadhan this year, an agency says.
The Jakarta Social Affairs Agency announced that the number of disadvantaged people, including beggars, in Jakarta was 614 this year. The figure is lower than the 1,319 people identified in Ramadhan last year.
The agency’s head, Masrokhan, attributed the decrease to his office’s efforts monitoring areas where people with social and community problems commonly gather in Jakarta.
These areas include pedestrian bridges, traditional markets, public cemeteries, malls and residential areas.
Masrokhan said the agency had deployed 425 officers to monitor the areas with the collaboration of the city’s civil service police unit.
He has also called on Jakartans to reconsider giving money to beggars because he said such acts of charity would only lure these people back into the streets. (ika)
