An Indian city is banning begging and rounding up the homeless in preparation for Ivanka Trump's visit
Alex Brandon/AP
Police in Hyderabad, India are reportedly rounding up the city's beggars and homeless in preparation for Ivanka Trump's coming visit for a women's empowerment summit.
- While the city implemented a similar campaign before President Bill Clinton's visit in 2000, this crackdown is reportedly much larger in scale.
Law enforcement in Hyderabad, India is racing to round up the city's beggars and homeless in preparation for White House adviser Ivanka Trump's visit for the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit just after Thanksgiving.
The city's police commissioner issued the unprecedented order earlier this week to ban begging and detain the city's homeless population just days before 1,500 international business leaders and government officials, including Trump, arrive for the two-day event.
But authorities deny that the push is in preparation for the international gathering.
"It's a permanent drive," V.K. Singh, the director of Hyderabad's prisons, told CNN. "The government, since 30 years, have been trying to figure out what to do about them."
The city reportedly plans to renew the two month begging ban after it expires in January.
The police commissioner said the begging, pervasive in many Indian cities, is "causing annoyance and awkwardness."
About 6,000 people are expected to be taken to "rehabilitation facilities" set up in the city's prisons and homeless shelters, according to the Indian Express.
"We were surprised by those reports," a senior administration official told CNN. "We know that the Indian government is really firmly committed to raising individuals out of poverty to create economic opportunity for its large and diverse population, and we think they're making great progress, although obviously there are still strides that it needs to take."
The city also cracked down on begging in the lead-up to former President Bill Clinton's visit in 2000, but this campaign is reportedly much larger in scale.
Trump will give a keynote address at the summit, which will focus on women's empowerment - one of the first daughter's top White House priorities.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted Trump's visit for months, and will host an elaborate dinner next Tuesday for the first daughter.
"We look forward to welcoming you @IvankaTrump," Modi tweeted last week. "Closer economic cooperation between India and USA helps our people, particularly our talented and innovative entrepreneurs."
After attending the summit, Trump is expected to go shopping at an open-air mall, which the city is also rushing to finalize construction of, and do some sightseeing in the region.
President Donald Trump claimed that the US's relationship with India "has never been better, has never been stronger" during a visit from Modi in June.
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