Ensure no homeless sleeps in open this winter: Lucknow DM to officials

Lucknow administration has decided to set up four cloth banks, covering all corners of the city, in order to provide beddings, woollens to the homeless

LUCKNOW: District administration on Monday issued directives to the officials of Nagar Nigam and other departments concerned to make elaborate arrangements at rainbaseras in the state capital so that none of the homeless sleeps in the open this winter. The departments were also asked to ensure distribution of food and winter clothes among the shelter seekers.

Homeless sleeping in a shelter home in Lucknow. (File photo)

While addressing a meeting on arrangements for rainbaseras, district magistrate Abhishek Prakash said, “It has been observed that many homeless people are forced to spend nights in the open and that too without proper woollens. Hence, we have decided to set up four cloth banks, covering all corners of the city, in order to provide beddings, woollens to the homeless.”

The DM said that at present they had four cloth banks functional in the city. The cloth bank is a joint initiative wherein commoners, NGOs, corporate houses and other organisations have been roped in to run these banks.

Clothes once collected would be transported to the rainbaseras and distributed among the homeless, he said.

Apart from setting up cloth banks, the administration is also going to increase the numbers of rainbaseras in order to accommodate maximum numbers of homeless.

The DM has also directed officials to give a facelift to the existing rainbaseras. “We are also preparing a list of the old government establishments that can be transformed into rainbaseras.”

Meanwhile, officials said that they were chalking out a plan to ensure that the stocked clothes reach out to the poor.