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Dirty quilts, dingy rooms all that shield Ludhiana’s homeless from biting cold
Owing to ongoing maintenance work, lack of bedding and clean blankets, absence of commute, awareness, all three shelters for the homeless in Ludhiana run way below capacity
As the city prepares for a cold wave predicted by the meteorological department, the city’s homeless continue to camp on pavements as all three of the city’s night shelters aren’t working to full capacity.
There are three-night shelters in Ludhiana: Haibowal, Ghoda Chowk and Vishwakarma Chowk. Each of these shelters can house 30, 150 and 20 people respectively, but owing to ongoing maintenance work, lack of bedding and clean blankets, and no conveyance or awareness the footfall isn’t near even half the total capacity.
Notably, Ludhiana last year topped the country in deaths due to exposure to cold. According to an National Crime Records Bureau report, as many as 32 people lost their lives to cold in 2022 in the city.
The biggest of the shelters is in the industrial area in Ghoda Colony. Opened in 2016, it has two halls, each with a capacity of 75. But the shelters have not been provided with new bedding. Only 30, 35 mattresses and blankets from 2016, unclean as they are, draw few takers.
Although the joint commissioner visited the facility a couple of weeks ago and promised new mattresses and blankets, nothing has changed in the shelter.
The shelter at Haibowal can house 30 people, but since maintenance work is going on at the moment, the facility can not be used. The bedding here is also in the same condition, barely adequate and unclean. Both the halls here have open windows, which leave the residents exposed to biting cold.
The third shelter, which is situated near Vishwakarma Chowk, is also not operational to full capacity due to ongoing maintenance work. It, at the moment, has an arrangement for only 12 people.
The ground situation is in stark contrast with municipal corporation’s (MC) claims. Officials from the civic body conducted inspections at these shelters just a couple of weeks ago.
Joint commissioner Kulpreet Singh said, “Cleanliness drives were organised at these shelters and that they were now open for the homeless.”
The lack of awareness and transport further translates to the low footfall despite the high number of homeless people in the city.
Tucked away into the city’s periphery, there are limited means for the homeless who spend most of their days in city centre begging or looking for odd jobs to get to the centres.
The municipal corporation usually runs buses in the evening, but with no means to get back to the city centre, even those find few takers. This year, the buses are yet to start operating in the first place.
The joint commissioner had during the inspection said buses would soon be pressed into service.
Notably, the one centrally located shelter near the clock tower had earlier been declared unsafe by the civic body last year.
While municipal commissioner Sandeep Rishi had last month said he would direct his officials to identify a site in the clock tower area for temporary arrangements, nothing has materialised on ground.
