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Nameless, forsaken even in their death
NEW DELHI: They are everywhere. Outside temples, at traffic signals, on pavements, dividers and under yellow halogen street lights. Nameless and homeless in this
NEW DELHI: They are everywhere. Outside temples, at traffic signals, on pavements, dividers and under yellow halogen street lights. Nameless and homeless in this city of 20 million, they remain unidentified when they die. On Sunday, police found the body of a man in his 30s. Without a name, he became a serial number in police records: UND16CL0047 (serial no. given to his body).
In Delhi, where no census or government body can put a number on the homeless population, HT’s reporters visited the homeless on roads, below flyovers, in parks, atop parked cycle rickshaws and in night shelters.
Delhi’s homeless are of many types. Some live alone, some work and return to shelters only to spend the night. Many are jobless and depend on Samaritans who visit shelters every day to distribute food.
Many men lie to their families about having their own home in Delhi. Some families have lived in shelters for more than 10 years. Not all homeless are beggars, drug addicts or criminals. Not all beggars are homeless either. Every homeless had a story to share.
Last month, a 35-year-old woman living on the street for over two decades was allegedly molested and robbed by a cop in the heart of Delhi.
A 45-year-old who has lost all his friends to AIDS and drug addiction knows his end is near but he won’t stop injecting himself.
A woman, begging outside a city temple, said she’s a farmer’s wife who comes to Delhi to beg twice a week hoping to pay off a debt she has owed a villager for 20 years.
In the five-part series, HT will highlight the problems of the homeless and give a sense of how they live.
SPACE FOR 16,174 HOMELESS
The government’s 197 night shelters have a capacity of only 16,174 people. Only 86 shelters are permanent structures (buildings). The rest are portable cabins. Since 2000, nine surveys—including one by the Commissioner soft he Supreme Court— put the number of homeless between 52,000 and 2,46,000. Around 22,000 check into shelters each night and the rest sleep on road sides and in parks.
This summer, the number of unidentified homeless who died in old and north Delhi—where most homeless reside—is over 400. Police say most are addicts, who died of drug overdose or dehydration.
“The problem of homeless can be solved only when the government is serious ,” says Sunil Aledia, from the Centre for Holistic Development, an NGO working for the homeless.
Sun il says the government and the press talk about homeless only during the winters when they die of cold. “Do you know the government has no summer action plan for the homeless? We filed an RTI seeking details about their summer action plan and were surprised when they replied that no plan exists. Even the press remembers the homeless only in winter and come to night shelters for a photo shoot. The rest of the time, they are forgotten.”
SHELTER PROBLEM
In 10 years, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, under the state government’s social welfare department, spent Rs 10.90 crore on NGOs running the 197 shelters. Every month, at least Rs 45,000 is released per shelter. But in 2016, no audit or inspection has been carried by the government, says a RTI reply from DUSIB to a city NGO.
DUSIB CEO VK Jain said the RTI reply pertained to one division while the shelters are divided into 12. “Recently we had cancelled the contract of NGOs at 70 night shelters, who were not working properly. Regular inspection is carried by senior officers and a report is submitted,” Jain.
In most shelters, residents say they are at the mercy of NGOs and have no grievance mechanism.
“The government should inspect and see how we are living,” a woman at the Bangla Saheb shelter compound said. As she pointed at two large holes on the doors of the two women’s shelters near her. A week later, when HT visited the shelter, men stood outside while inside women slept and a few women changed clothes. The cardboards that had covered the holes was torn off giving the men a view of the women. Outside the shelter, the mobile toilets had no latch. Two cases of rape were reported here three months ago. Among the homeless, women are the most vulnerable as HT found out.
