hyderabad civic authorities may be busy with virtually imprisoning hapless beggars to give a rich look to hyderabad in the run up to the visit of ivanka trump later this month but scores of ailing beggars in inner city lanes and bylanes are left to fend for themselves though the healthy beggars have been accommodated in prisons and exclusive homes the ailing ones have not been shifted to hospital neither did they receive medical attentionthe fear of government snatching away their begging bowls and confining them within four walls is so high that many beggars suffering from severe illness and wounds infested by maggots have hidden in small lanes to avoid the special squads they fear that if they were shifted to jail or the socalled beggars homes they would not be able to get the medical care tended by philanthropists with no medical support many of them are dependent on good samaritans and philanthropist organisations take the case of this ailing beggar for instance not far from the state assembly resides a destitute woman behind the railway quarters she hides in bylanes fearing that she may be identified as a beggar and shifted to jail the 60yearold woman speaks in english hindi urdu and tamil she says she was a cleaner in train she is unable to recollect when and how she lost her family she suffers from a severe maggot infested woundagood samaritan has been nursing her providing her food and clothes and even a mobile phone to keep in touch with her the good samaritan who did not want to be identified called up helping hand foundation an ngo seeking its help as the police and authorities are virtually hunting down beggars helping hand foundation managing trustee mujtaba hasan askari has now taken up her causewe have so far rescued eight ailing beggars and destitutes maggots otherwise known as fly larvae are famous for eating the flesh of dead animals and in this they perform a vital cleansing function in nature but also less often maggots can infest and feed on the flesh of live humans a phenomenon known as myiasis beggars suffering from this problem need immediate medical attention askari said the drive has hit beggars psychologically social workers observe that while the drive to make hyderabad free of beggars is a welcome step the government should first look into the socioeconomic causes that turn people into beggars all the beggars should be rehabilitated he added