LAHORE - Thousands of professional beggars, mostly alms-seeking families, have encroached upon the length and breadth of the Punjab Capital in the holy month of Ramazan taking advantage of the peoples generosity. A large number of beggars families comprising of old men, women and children have thronged to the streets, traffic signals at leading roads, mosques, shrines, restaurants, parks and shopping plazas of the City for begging with charity. This is a money-making month for the deserving and destitute people like us as rich people donate generously in this month. Every year, we come to this City to get charity, Waryam Piroka, a 60-year-old gipsy told this scribe at the Doctors Hospital traffic signal on Friday. He was reluctant to admit that he was a professional beggar but he said that all the members of his family including his 55-year-old wife, young children and grandsons were on the roads to get charity. We dont have money to get food. We are very poor and also need medical treatment. We deserve for charity, he added. Like every year, in Ramazan, people specially those observing fasts and performing taraweeh, give money generously to those who deserve, particularly the beggars at the roads. Roshan Bibi, a 35-year-old mother along-with her one-year-old infant was approaching toward every vehicle as the traffic signal turned red at Shah Di Khoi bus stop at Canal Road. She succeeded in getting alms from every third car at the traffic signal hours before Iftar on Friday. I collected alms at Faisal Town at Friday prayer and now I am toiling hard to get charity at Shah Di Khoi, she added According to a survey, a number of networks of professional beggars have sprung into action. They have spread their tentacles across the City. With every passing day, beggars have been pouring into different localities. Alms seekers have targeted posh areas including DHA, Model Town, Green Town, Garden Town, Cantt, Wapda Town, The Mall and others. The new trend that is being witnessed at the traffic signals is the gathering of white-colored young girls seeking alms. The people that are the main role players of the beggar gangs are also known as contractors and they take a 60 per cent share form the daily collection of charity and in turn they offer the beggars protection while the areas police is also given their share for turning a blind eye to their activities. These beggars know that if they do not generate generous amounts from this source they would not get anything as they make agreements with beggar gangs not to collect charity from other domains. The more generous the people, the more business it creates for professional beggars, who start scouting the streets and shopping centres for places where they would be able to take advantage of the peoples generosity to the fullest.