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ON A MISSION MODE, PATTABIRAMAN LIVES TO ERADICATE BEGGING

Neyveli Pattabiraman, 62, has been waging a war against the scourge of begging for the past four decades or so, but finds the going tough. Ironically, it is the good-natured and well-meaning serving the poor penchant of the people itself appears to be the main reason for the continuance of new beggars joining the “workforce” […]

Neyveli Pattabiraman, 62, has been waging a war against the scourge of begging for the past four decades or so, but finds the going tough. Ironically, it is the good-natured and well-meaning serving the poor penchant of the people itself appears to be the main reason for the continuance of new beggars joining the “workforce” despite several campaigns by do-gooders like Pattabiraman.

Consider this, if the social service practitioner manages to convince few of the beggars to come out of their livelihood, there are plenty others willing to try their hand at the easy money that flows in. A beggar earns at least Rs 500 per days on a “normal working day”, which comes to anything close to Rs 15,000 per month, something many don’t earn when doing petty jobs. So why would anyone be interested to work hard when they can do a few hours of “duty” and return home by 3 or 4 o’clock and enjoy filter coffee, with nothing else to do for the rest of the day. They do begin work early, by 8 or 9 a.m, but have lesser working hours and more money.

Pattabiraman lives at the Beggars Rehabilitation Project site in Chidambaram of Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. For the past four decades, he has been working to eradicate begging and work among beggars to improve their lot. Many leprosy patients have been helped by Pattabiraman, who put his own money and later managed to convince the Neyveli Lignite Corporation to spend its CSR funds on his campaigns. He himself used to work for NLC and since retired. His wife, a bank employee, is still working in Coimbatore and has four years to go. His two children, a daughter and son are well settled and earning well for themselves. His daughter is married and son working in a software company in Hyderabad.

His family is proud of the work he has been doing, and they don’t mind parting with their own money, occasionally, as needed for his philanthropic activities. It all began one night in 1983 when Pattabiraman spotted an old man struggling for life at a bus stop in Chennai. He took him to a local hospital and waited for him to be treated for five days. Thus began Pattabiraman’s service to the society, which was later to focus on the plight of beggars.

He made improving the lot of beggars his main cause to live and took up one project after another, working with groups of beggars, educating them, finding some livelihood so that they give up begging for good—giving financial help to the needy, educating their children, collecting used clothes from people for them, giving them groceries and generally making their life easier to lead. “Sometimes, the collectors were helpful, and sometimes not. But there may be delay, but work still gets done,” he told The Daily Guardian over phone from Cuddalore.

At present, there are 375 beggars out of a total 500 who are part of his latest project. Only 125 beggars were convinced to leave the “profession” and take up normal work, one that was full of dignity and pride. What will you do if more people join begging as an easy way out? Pat comes the reply from Pattabiraman. “I will work on them till I live. This is my mission,” he said. He tries to garner every benefit out of all state and central government schemes for the poor, as he goes along trying to bring them out of the “begging profession”.

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