An old beggar involved in an accident on Sargodha Khushab Road was found in possession of Rs500,000 and multiple visas for Saudi Arabia on Monday .
Rescue 1122 personnel reported that an elderly man was discovered unconscious on Khushab Road.
Upon providing medical aid and transferring him to the hospital, authorities found Rs534,000 and passports with several Saudi visas in his possession.
Local individuals and rescue officials revealed that the elderly man, identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, is allegedly linked to a beggar gang.
Following his recovery, the rescue team returned his money and passports.
Recently, the Punjab government announced its decision to intensify legal action against people living below the poverty line in the provincial capital, who were cushioning their household expenditures by begging on the roads.
Following the amendment made to the Islamabad Prevention of Beggary Act 2019, all beggars and their ringleaders will be put in jail for three months alongside being penalised with heavy fines.
While this initiative might be commended by citizens pestered by insistent beggars at traffic intersections, it came as a bolt out of the blue for those destitute households, whose very survival was contingent upon the generous impulses of passers-by.