GUJRAT: In an ongoing crackdown on begging, police have so far arrested at least 150 alms seekers, including women, in a week or so.

Sources in police say the arrested beggars also include men and women from south Punjab districts besides local ones.

They said the drive against the beggary was being run across the district, particularly at the main squares, entry and exit points of Gujrat, Lalamusa, Kharian, Sara-i-Alamgir, Jalalpur Jattan, Dinga, Kunjah and other urban areas.

A traffic police official says that due to begging in city`s busy squares, the traf fic flow would of ten got disturbed and the issue was reported to the high-ups in the district administration, seeking a stern actionin thisregard.

A senior police official says that so far some 140 cases have been lodged against beggars under the Punjab Vagrancy Ordinance-1958 in almost all police stations of the district during the current month.

He says that most of the arrestedbeggars have been sent to Gujrat district jail as the authorities wanted to discourage the inflow of such elements in major urban centres of the district.

He says the cities of Gujrat, Kharian, Lalamusa, Dinga and Sarai-Alamgir had been among the worsthit areas by beggary since a large number of expatriates belong to these towns and adjoining rural localities, who give alms to beggars.

It is learnt that the crackdown against the menace of begging would continue in the current month.