Beggars in distress as temples 

remain closed in Nabadwip

Biman Saha, chairman of Nabadwip municipality, however, said “Not only beggars, we are providing food to every needy person. We are providing food to 2500 persons including beggars twice daily. So, no beggars are left with an empty stomach every day. We have also arranged shelter and food thrice daily for 13 Tripura residents who could not leave Nabadwip for Tripura due to lockdown.”

Biswabrata Goswami

Statesman News Service

NABADWIP, 28 APRIL: As hundreds of temples across Nabadwip, a holy place for Vaishnavas where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born, in Nadia including the fabled Goudiya Math have been closed due to the pan-India lockdown imposed to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, it has left many beggars depending for alms at these temples, in a worst situation.

Usually, thousands of beggars and people from outside who do not have any other place to reside gather at these temples and they are largely dependent on the food served here regularly.

Now that the temples are shut due to the lockdown, devotees are not visiting here and the beggars are left with no source of food and money.

Even after the Nabadwip municipality is working towards providing food to the needy people amid lockdown, the beggars over here are still forced to starve due to the unavailability of basic food and water in this area.

However, sometimes the hapless beggars are lucky enough to feed themselves once in a day with the help of a few social workers; otherwise they are being forced to sit outside the temples with empty stomachs.

According to local residents, around 2000 beggars reside at various temples and they live solely on the prasadh or food served from the temples every day. They earn a little money from the devotees who donate them during the visits at the temples. But due to lockdown, the temples are shut and no devotees are visiting temples.

“In Nabadwip, there are around 200 temples and maths and beggars gather everyday in front of these temples or maths. As the lockdown continues for over a month, the beggars are facing an acute food scarcity. And, if this situation is continuing for more days, many of them may collapse due to hunger”, said Saibal Kanshabanik, a local resident.

“In the pilgrim town of Puri in Odisha, the state government has rehabilitated hundreds of beggars in temporary shelter where they are being provided free food and health care facilities. The Odisha government has named the makeshift shelter as ‘Niladri Nilay’ where the beggars

from different temples have been provided shelters. Like Odisha, our state government or the district administration should initiate a similar project for rehabilitation of these beggars during this tough time”, said Kankshabanik.

When asked, Biman Saha, chairman of Nabadwip municipality, however, said “Not only beggars, we are providing food to every needy person. We are providing food to 2500 persons including beggars twice daily. So, no beggars are left with an empty stomach every day. We have also arranged shelter and food thrice daily for 13 Tripura residents who could not leave Nabadwip for Tripura due to lockdown.”

Saha also said, “We have a shelter named ‘Mamatalay’ where anyone can stay for long. We have rehabilitated several beggars here. But, many beggars after a few days leave it and continue staying near any temple under open sky. So, what can I do for these beggars?”

Malati Biswas, a 52-year-old beggar said, “The municipality provides a small aluminum foil containing food which is insufficient to us. As I stay near the railway station at night, no one come here to provide food to me”.

Like her, many beggars stay at various places at night and they sleep every night with an empty stomach. No one provides food to them in the night, a local resident alleged.