Tehran beggars make 1,500 dollars a month
Beggars in Iranian capital reportedly earn up to five times sum of official minimum wage. TEHRAN - Beggars in the Iranian capital earn the equivalent of 1,500 dollars a month -- five times the official minimum wage -- the Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday. Many Iranians strongly believe in giving alms and other charitable acts promoted by Islam. "Tehran beggars make at least 500,000 rials (50 dollars) a day or 15 million rials a month," the agency quoted Sadegh Avvali, the official in charge of social services at Tehran municipality, as saying. He said that most beggars roaming the streets asking for change in the sprawling capital come from villages and remote towns or are foreigners, and that authorities round up about 300 vagrants and beggars daily. Under a municipality initiative, panhandlers and vagrants would be picked off the streets and sent to shelters at night, Mehr quoted him as saying. Beggars, including women and children, routinel...