39 new night shelters this winter, 11 for women

There are a total of 184 shelters — permanent and temporary — set up by the DUSIB in the capital.

At a night shelter in Nizamuddin. (Archive)

The Delhi government, which had attracted the Delhi High Court’s ire after hundreds of homeless people on the streets of Delhi succumbed to the biting cold last year, has sprung into action, initiating the setting up of 39 additional temporary night shelters.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which initiated the project, said it would begin the construction of four permanent night shelters for the homeless in the next two months.

The Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) — a member of NGO Shehri Adhikar Manch which is assisting the High Court — stated that according to data received from the Zonal Integrated Police Network, 1,344 unidentified bodies were found in Delhi between October 2013 and March 2014. Of these, 80 per cent were those of homeless people, the CHD said.

However, an official of the DUSIB said, “The DUSIB conducted about four to five surveys between January and June. The approximate population of homeless persons is between 16,000 and 17,000. There is no increase in their numbers. NGOs have been making contrary claims, but if there were over a lakh homeless people, they would have been seen all over the streets.”

He said even in the harshest winter conditions, the occupancy of night shelters has never been more than 60 to 65 per cent.

Sources in DUSIB said the permanent shelters in Ghazipur, Dwarka Sector-9, Narela and Rohini Sector-22 will be four-storied structures that will house up to 1,800 people. However, the construction of these four shelters will take at least a year, officials said.

There are a total of 184 shelters — permanent and temporary — set up by the DUSIB in the capital. The four new shelters will add to the 82 permanent shelters, while the additional 39 shelters are expected to accommodate approximately 1,000 homeless persons.

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The DUSIB has designated 11 new shelters for women, adding to the existing nine. These will come up near the Akshardham Metro station, Raja Garden, Kalkaji Mandir and eight other locations and will accommodate 840 women. There are already two shelters for pregnant and lactating women.

“We have 1,500-2,000 blankets in our store. We will also buy jute mats and daris. We will complete the process in the next 10 to 14 days,” the official said.

Of the seven plots identified for the construction of permanent night shelters, one shelter is functional in Avantika. Four have been handed over to the DUSIB and two plots in Dwarka Sector-16B and Rohini Sector-5 are yet to be handed over.

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