Census just for 30,000 of city’s homeless

“The city has a large number of homeless,but spot visits done between February 9 and 20 indicate a presence of only 30,000 homeless at their regular spots,” said Dr Shridhar Kubal,deputy executive health officer in the BMC and in-charge of the Census operations.

New Delhi,with approximately 85,000 homeless,is conducting the count on two nights,while Mumbai with double the number gets just one night. The 30-odd NGOs working with the Census department had sought an additional night here too,but the proposal was turned down.

The decision to bring down the estimated number to 30,000 was taken after the NGOs failed to provide an exhaustive data. With 475 spots vetted,the enumerators along with the volunteers from different NGOs and educational institute like TISS will focus on only meeting this target.

“We have already given area wise information to the officers,identified the cluster across the city and agreed to give as many volunteers. The purpose of the survey to help the Centre implement development schemes for the underprivileged,especially those pertaining to sanitation and health,would not be served,” said Abhishek Bharadwaj of NGO Alternative Realities.

Maharashtra is the only state which hasn’t acknowledged its homeless and has in fact equated them with “beggars”. In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court,replying to a petition seeking shelters for the homeless,the state had stated that the homeless could be accommodated in beggars homes. Every other state in their affidavits had mentioned the facilities provided.

An official from the Census Department explained that the homeless are counted last to prevent duplication and rule out migration. “Many migrate and some change places. But the authorities don’t seem to have taken these aspects into consideration while scheduling the counting on the last night,” said Shwetank Mishra,convener of Collective of Homeless Citizens,an umbrella under which all the NGOs in the city have been working for the Census.

“We have limited the counting to one night just to avoid duplication. But if the need arises we will decide to add another day,a decision for which would be taken only on the morning of March 1,” said BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. She said a pool of additional enumerators would also be kept on standby,if the need arises.