Bus terminal a hotspot for vagabonds

Vagrants sleeping on a bench at the Komtar bus terminal.

THE Komtar bus terminal’s high concentration of vagrants is not a result of rising poverty but the generosity of the people, said state Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh.

“Komtar used to be ‘dead’ but it has been revived as a tourist hotspot. This is why beggars congregate here as they can earn up to RM300 per day from the heavy foot traffic.

“In 2017, the state Welfare Department conducted 420 operations and rounded up 638 homeless people.

“They were given counselling and we tried to reunite them with their families,” he told a press conference recently.

Komtar assemblyman Teh Lai Heng, who was also present, said vagrants prefer to gather around Komtar as there are frequent food handouts.

He added that the state government was currently looking for a suitable area for a transit home for such people.