The Hindu : New Delhi News : Homeless on Human Rights Day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 09, 2007
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

Homeless on Human Rights Day

Staff Reporter

Not a single shelter for thousands of hopeless women in the Capital

About 1.5 lakh homeless men and women in Delhi
Urgent measures sought for low-cost housing

NEW DELHI: Accusing the State of failing to protect the basic human rights of an estimated 1.5 lakh homeless men and women in the Capital, housing rights groups have called for urgent measures such as low-cost housing and increasing the number of permanent shelters for the homeless to lessen their sufferings.

Addressing media persons here over the weekend, representatives of the housing rights groups – Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA), Action Aid and Housing and Land Rights Network (HRLN) – pointed out that even as the world observes Human Rights Day this Monday, December 10, it would be a shame that over one lakh homeless people would be spending their nights out in the open.

They pointed out that the condition of nearly 10,000 homeless women was all the more pathetic as there was not a single shelter for them. The AAA director, Paramjeet Kaur, said the only shelter being run on a contractual basis for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in Yamuna Pushta was closed in June this year to make way for a building that would have stored construction material. However, the space was still lying unused, she said.

Ms. Kaur added that the multiplicity of agencies in the Capital, like the MCD, the NDMC and the Department of Social Welfare made it easy for them all to pass the buck.

According to the housing rights groups, some of the main reasons for increasing problem of homelessness are non-existence of low-cost and public housing options; large-scale eviction drives and demolition of slums without adequate support for rehabilitation and resettlement; shift in land use towards intensive infrastructure development and non-availability of financial schemes for the poor and the marginalised communities.

Indu Prakash Singh of Action Aid lamented that the only priority for the Government was rapid urban renewal and beautification of cities at the cost of the poor.

Be it the MCD, the NDMC or the Delhi Government, the issue of homeless people was not on the priority list of any of them, said HLRN associate coordinator Shivani Chaudhary. There was no paucity of funds but the priorities of these agencies were elsewhere, she added.

“The Government can raise more than Rs.10,000 crore for the Delhi Metro, Rs. 1,000 crore for the High Capacity Bus System, Rs.5,200 crore for the Commonwealth Games-2010, but it would not allocate money for the poor and the homeless,” said Ms. Chaudhary.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi