Amid cold wave, shelter homes open for homeless, beggars

Amritsar, December 29

With dense fog engulfing the region for the last four days and the temperatures dropped significantly, homeless people and beggars living on roadsides, footpaths and under bridges are bearing the brunt of the cold wave. Intense cold conditions pose a serious risk to their lives.

Keeping in view the problems faced by the homeless people, the district Red Cross Society under the patronage of the district administration distributed blankets to needy persons. The blankets were given to those poor people who were found outside Guru Nanak Dev hospital.

Officials of the administration stated that in city, a raen basera (night shelter) and Yatri Niwas are operational at Gol Bagh, which are equipped with all necessary infrastructure required to provide them a cozy and comfortable stay in the facilities.

The two facilities were in a pathetic state nearly a month ago. The district administration not only got them cleaned and revamped them, but also provided bedding and other necessary items to make them fit to living.

Earlier, the administration used to run a night shelter at Karam Singh Ward of Old Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in the Civil Lines. Later, the night shelter was shifted to the raen basera in Gol Bagh. Yatri Niwas is meant for visitors from other areas who cannot afford to stay in expensive hotels. Such visitors earlier were forced to spend the night at the railway station.

District administration officials stated that Yatri Niwas’s proximity to the railway station makes it convenient for such visitors to stay here. On the other hand, the purpose of the raen basera is to provide night shelter to homeless people and beggars.

While Yatri Niwas has a hall and three rooms which can accommodate nearly 20 persons, the raen basera has a big hall which has a much larger capacity, said an official. He said the administration had recently installed an RO water purifier and conducted repairs here. The administration has appealed to all those people who need shelter to use these facilities.