Despite severe cold, shelter homes in deplorable state in Delhi

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, January 10

The national capital has been gripped by severe cold weather since the beginning of the year, however, shelter homes remain to be in a deplorable state.

Praveen Raj (55), who has been living at a shelter home in Kashmere Gate, said the sewer line has been blocked since last week and nothing has been done to fix the issue.

Blocked sewers, dirty toilets

• Praveen Raj (55), who has been living at a shelter home in Kashmere Gate, said the sewer line has been blocked since last week and nothing has been done to fix the issue
• “If one goes to use the washroom it begins to overflow, it is smelly and unclean and when the water begins to come on the roads, the neighbours come out to complain.” he said

“If one goes to use the washroom it begins to overflow, it is smelly and unclean and when the water begins to come on the roads, the neighbours come out to complain.” he said.

The secluded lanes of Chabiganj in Kashmere Gate witnesses loads of people coming to the place as it is a market area for automobiles.

The competent authority to look after shelter homes is under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB). The agency has created a ‘Winter Action Plan’ for 2023-24.

According to the plan, shelter homes are to be established in various locations of Delhi, with a capacity of 7,092 persons. However, the occupancy rate in shelter tents was different as only 6-8 people were occupying beds at night.

The facilities provided under the plan include durries, mattresses, bed sheets, pillows, blankets, drinking water, toilet and bathing facility, etc.

A two-floor pucca ‘rainbasera’ can house 90 people in which a room with 90 beds was made operational on Monday but since it is yet to have a female staff it is left empty with just beds, pillows and blankets. The shelter home is under the NGO Jyoti Samajik Sewa Sanstha.

The second floor of the shelter home does not even have beds and 30 thin carpets were aligned on the floor. The caretaker, Atul, said: “We give them 3-4 blankets from which they use one or two as mattress.”

On the complaints raised by the residents of the shelter home, the caretaker said the issue has been raised with the supervisor and he has raised it further with DUSIB.

“The complaint has been sent to DUSIB and they have said that a tender has been issued and has been awarded to a company but since the company has not received a letter till now the work has been delayed and it could take 3-4 days for fixing the sewer line.” supervisor Shailendra said.

On the Mayur Vihar-Noida link road, three tents have been erected which have portable toilets but are not of any use. Similarly, at a shelter tent in Delhi Gate visited by The Tribune, the toilets were found to be unclean and were not functional. Rajbir Singh, Director, Shelter Homes, said they had been directed to clean the toilets and provide with new toilets within two months.