He is happy for the relief, but doubtful it will last

The Delhi High Court may have pulled up the Delhi government for not doing enough on shelter for the homeless, but in nearby Gurgaon, which followed the Capital’s example, Lal and his companions for this night are thankful for the little that has come their away. The Gurgaon administration is operating seven unused buses as night shelters, equipped with about 50 mattresses and blankets each.

“These buses don’t charge us anything, nor demand we show BPL or ID cards. They have replaced all 80 seats with a large wooden bed, leaving a passage to walk around. We are being provided blankets. It feels comfortable and safe here,” Lal says. The shelter is open between 7 pm and 7 am daily, and there is fierce competition among mostly migrant labourers to get on. Ramesh Kumar, a seasonal labourer whom the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon has assigned the task of manning the bus for the night, has to keep order. The short man wearing khaki shorts and a woolen cap eventually manages to pacify the crowd this evening, getting them to fill their names and addresses on a register, before letting them in.

“The bus is divided into two sections,” says 35-year-old Kumar. “Men on one side and women on the other, divided by a wooden plank. Fifteen people can sleep comfortably but often 40 have to be accommodated. Gareeb aadmi aur kahan jayega (Where will a poor man go)? So we accommodate them.” Sleeping in the open is risky as policemen often beat them up, Kumar says. Then there is a chance of pockets being picked.

However, women are still wary of using the bus for fear of safety. The authorities too do not encourage them. “If they are with men of their families, they might be allowed entry, but that’s rare,” says Kumar. While there are no provisions for first aid or mobile toilets on the bus shelters yet, that may be rectified. “Authorities say these provisions will be made soon. For now, we use a Sulabh toilet near the railway platform or relieve ourselves in the open,” says Lal.

The corporation has temporarily fixed a tube light inside the bus, drawing power from an electricity pole outside. It can get cold, but Kumar shrugs: “We just make sure all the windows and doors are shut.” As the temperature drops, the conversation takes a more serious note, to politics, especially the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Delhi. Sitting besides Lal, Rajbir, a 52-year-old unemployed man, says: “Ye to Congress ki sarkaar dar rahi hai, isliye logon ke liye suvidhayen badh rahin hain (All these facilities are on the up because the Congress government here is feeling scared). It’s poll year and the AAP Delhi government has given free water, electricity at half rates, and such night shelters to people. So the Haryana government has also started doing something.” Rajbir has nowhere else to stay since, he claims, he was thrown out of his house in Gurgaon by his son.

Lal, however, feels that the bus shelter move is symbolic. “If the government really cared for the well-being of labourers, we would have had a house. Hamare paas peele card hote (We would have had a BPL card). I was a labourer, am still a labourer and nothing has changed for me. I still look for work every day. Humein kya fayda (What is there to gain for us)?” he says. Gurgaon civic authorities admit that the idea for night shelter buses came from Delhi, but add that they are doing better. “We are trying to provide better facilities, have made beds out of plywood and seven such buses are already operational. Next in line are mobile toilets for the homeless,” says Commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, Praveen Kumar.

However, as the occupants of the bus near the Old Gurgaon Railway Station say, the real test of the government’s intentions will be when the bus shelters are shut in the summer and the homeless go back to sleeping on the footpath. “Kisi ko chai naseeb nahin hoti, to kisi ko khaane ke saath salad chahiye. Ye hai rajniti (Some go without tea, others need salad with their food. This is politics),” says Lal.