Porta cabins sought for the homeless Delhi

The Delhi government’s Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which runs shelter homes in the city, recently removed the temporary shelters it had put up during winter.

With night curfew in place in Delhi till April 30, civil society members want the Delhi government to put up porta (portable) cabins or make arrangements for homeless people in the city.

Dusib officials said the 205 shelter homes can accommodate over 18,000 people, but due to the Covid-19 oubreak, the collectively capacity of the shelter homes has been reduced to a little over 7,000. (Yogendra Kumar/HT file photo. Representative image)

The Delhi government’s Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which runs shelter homes in the city, recently removed the temporary shelters it had put up during winter.

Activists and civil society members said with the imposition of the night curfew, a large number of people’s livelihood has been impacted as many are daily wagers working as labourers or loaders in various markets in Delhi.

Indu Prakash, member of the Supreme Court appointed monitoring committee on shelter homes, said, “These people are sleeping out in the open. I have suggested to Dusib to put up porta cabins to provide shelter to the homeless people. With their livelihood affected, they are finding it difficult to arrange food. I have asked Dusib to tell us about their plan.”

Last year, Dusib, which has over 210 shelter homes in the city, had put up 120 additional temporary shelters to accommodate people during winter. Officials from Dusib said the NGOs that were running the temporary shelters were also providing food to people free of cost.

“We had put up more tents last year compared to the previous years to ensure social distancing in the temporary shelters amid the outbreak of Covid-19. We have removed the tents now as winter is over,” said Dusib officials.

A senior Dusib official said, “We have space at some of our shelters where the homeless can be accommodated only if they are willing to go. They will be provided food also at these shelters.”

As per the data available on the Dusib’s website, as on April 8, 5,108 people put up in 205 shelter homes, which collectively can accommodate upto 9,086 people, at night.

Dusib officials said the 205 shelter homes can accommodate over 18,000 people, but due to the Covid-19 oubreak, the collectively capacity of the shelter homes has been reduced to a little over 7,000.

Bipin Rai, member of Dusib, said, “We are planning to set up temporary shelters (for homeless people). We will take up this matter in the board meeting on Monday.”