Homeless shelters to be free, coolers installed

Coming as a huge relief for the homeless in the national capital, coolers have been installed in 24-hour shelters. These shelters have also been made free for the homeless.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has given directions to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to stop charging people for using these shelters.

Speaking to this newspaper, Indu Prakash Singh of the Shahri Adhikar Manch: Begharon Ke Saath, explained arrangements have been made to make Delhi summer bearable for the homeless.

“I had met the Delhi chief minister on the issue of rising temperature, he has given standing instructions to the DUSIB that the fees must be waived in these shelters. In a day or two, we can expect these shelters to be free 24/7 for the homeless,” Mr Singh said. Mr Singh also said that coolers had been recently installed in 198 shelters for the homeless in Delhi. Each shelter has two coolers for the residents. Mr Singh also said that in 2014, when Delhi was under the rule of the lieutenant-governor it was notified that these shelters would charge Rs 6-Rs 10 from the homeless using the facilities. This charge has been done away with now.

Earlier, the Centre for Holistic Development had demanded an action plan to care of the homeless during summer. As per the centre’s report, 377 homeless people had died, possibly due to heat wave, in the city. According to the NGO, last year too, over 550 people had died in April and May and attributed the deaths to the lack of an action plan by the city government.

Experts explained that there is no action plan separately for the summer months in the city. For the winter season, the DUSIB has an exhaustive plan to safeguard the homeless as the harsh winter claims more lives in comparison to summer. However, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, which takes care of providing shelter to the homeless people, claimed it is implementing all necessary measures to provide shelter for the homeless and takes care of their necessities.