Under 5% of Karnataka’s homeless inoculated, reveals govt data

SG Raveendra, special commissioner (welfare), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said that at present the vaccines are being provided only to those homeless persons lodged at the nine homeless shelters across the city.

Even though declared a vulnerable section of the society who require vaccine on priority, the Karnataka government doesn’t have a plan to vaccinate the homeless in Bengaluru city. As per the government data, less than 5% of the city’s homeless, the majority of whom are above the age of 60 years have been vaccinated.

A homeless person reading a newspaper in the middle of the road during a lockdown imposed amid the rise in Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru. (ANI Photo)

SG Raveendra, special commissioner (welfare), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said that at present the vaccines are being provided only to those homeless persons lodged at the nine homeless shelters across the city.

“At present, we have 218 homeless persons at our centres, out of which 137 have received the first dose of the vaccine and 10 have received the second. We are in process of getting everyone at our centres vaccinated soon,” said Raveendra.

In a letter dated May 13, 2021, the government had said that homeless persons are one of the vulnerable sections of the society and hence, should be provided vaccine on priority. However, Narasimhappa TV, a member of the Supreme Court-appointed Independent Impartial Committee (IIC) on urban homeless, said that the number of people at homeless centres is only a fraction of the total homeless persons in the city.

“As per a survey conducted in 2019, there are around 4,200 homeless persons in the city. Even this number is not precise. This was the result of a headcount conducted in the main areas of the city. If a thorough survey is conducted, then the numbers could be more than 10,000,” he said.

Talking about the vaccination drives, Narasimhappa said that the lack of identity cards also becomes a problem for the homeless in the city. “At present, the city doesn’t have enough shelters to take care of the homeless in the city. In such a case, someone who is not in the shelter has to go to a vaccination centre to get the dose. Most of all don’t have any identity cards. So, if the government is going to focus only on those who are in the shelters, a large number of homeless will not get the vaccination,” Narasimhappa added.

Over the past year, 24 persons staying in these shelters have tested positive for Covid-19 and two have succumbed to the virus, as per the BBMP figures. That raises concerns over several more infections and deaths among homeless persons.

Asked about the plan for vaccinating the homeless as the government order to give them vaccination of priority, Raveendra said that there any homeless person can avail vaccination at the centre. “At the same time, we are working with NGOs to identify the vulnerable groups and to get them vaccinated. We will ensure that those identified will be brought to the shelters, where they will be vaccinated,” said Raveendra.

An NGO based in Bengaluru, working with the homeless people, said that no reach out has taken place in Bengaluru as claimed by the BBMP. “We are working with several groups providing them food. From nomadic families, waste pickers, daily wage workers and employees of small eateries there are several homeless persons in the city whom we help. From our interaction, there has been no effort by the authorities to approach them for vaccination,” said the NGO worker, who didn’t want to be named.

“What is concerning is that the central government has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which asks the state to create a district task force to identify such persons. But no one has done this so far,” the NGO worker said.