“According to our data, we have apprehended 596 PPKS since the start of Ramadan until Tuesday, April 9, 2024,” Jakarta Social Affairs Office head Premi Lasari said here on Tuesday.
She informed that the agency used several strategies to apprehend PPKS, including street beggars, scavengers, buskers, and people living in makeshift carts, across the province.
The agency has instructed officials in the province- and administrative city-level offices to optimize the monitoring and apprehension of PPKS, she said.
The monitoring, which will focus on places of worship such as large mosques, is also meant to ensure that Muslims can perform their rituals without disturbance during Ramadan, she added.
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Collaboration with Jakarta’s Municipal Police has also been sought for patrol missions to monitor PPKS at Jakarta’s entry points from the neighboring cities of Tangerang, South Tangerang, Depok, and Bekasi, Lasari said.
Besides persuading and educating PPKS to dissuade them from begging on the streets, the agency has also relocated PPKS to social centers for further action, including repatriation to their places of origin outside Jakarta.
The Social Affairs Office cooperated with state bus company Perum Damri to repatriate PPKS to several regions, such as Lampung province, Semarang in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java, and Cilacap and Tasikmalaya in West Java.
To further discourage street beggars, Lasari also urged residents to channel alms and donations only through official and trusted agencies. Doing so would be better than giving money directly to street beggars, she added.
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Translator: Siti Nurhaliza, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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