The Hindu : New Delhi News : Cold worsening plight of the homeless

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Tuesday, Jan 05, 2010
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New Delhi

Cold worsening plight of the homeless

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Photo: AFP

Nowhere to go: Homeless people on roadsides making do with blankets to protect themselves from the biting cold in Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: As the mercury continues to slide down further and icy winds gather momentum, over a hundred thousand people across the Capital are struggling to stay alive. No roof over their heads to shield them from the biting cold and not enough woollens to keep them warm, the homeless people in Delhi have been literally left out in the cold, alleges Shahri Adhikar Manch: Begharon Ke Liye, an urban rights forum for the homeless.

Charging that two persons have already succumbed to the severity of the cold wave, the forum -- a coalition of 30 non-government organisations -- now intends to file public interest litigation in the Delhi High Court and petition international forums like the United Nations to direct the Central and State Governments to step in and provide shelter to the homeless in Delhi.

Addressing media persons on Monday, Mansoor Khan of Beghar Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti narrated the plight of the homeless and the conditions that night shelters run by the government are in.

He said the recent demolition of a temporary night shelter on Pusa Road that left more than 200 people affected was a glaring example of government “apathy”.

“The Government demolished a night shelter in Jama Masjid on the basis of a statement of a religious head that terrorists come and stay there. In Fathepuri the shelter is used as a jail for Bangladeshi nationals. Despite our efforts and the directions of the court, we have not been able to procure ration cards and voter identity cards,” he said.

Blaming the “bureaucratic set-up” where the State Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi have been unable to converge on the issue of rehabilitation of the homeless, Miloon Kothari, former UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, said the Government needs to be held responsible for the human rights violations of the homeless.

“From 46 night shelters in 2008-09, the number of homeless shelters in Delhi in 2009-10 has fallen to 24, of which 16 are temporary, despite an increase in the number of the homeless. Two deaths have already been reported. It is clear that the Commonwealth Games is the Government’s priority and not the vulnerable poor in the city. The Government should call off the Games and use the infrastructure for the development of the people,” he said.

Also, accusing the Government of failing to protect the rights of the poor, Usha Ramanathan, international expert in jurisprudence of law, poverty and rights, said the two deaths that have been reported should not be treated as “natural”.

“Deaths in the cold are not natural death. This happens year after year. It’s a situation that the Government needs to be prepared for and these are avoidable deaths. These deaths are no less a crime, they are a result of neglect and deliberate omission on the part of the Government,” she said.

Pointing put that the Government has failed to secure the rights of the poor, she said: “The poor have always been seen as encroachers on public spaces and land; they are not seen as human beings. The State has been actively making sure that the poor cannot acquire any rights.”

Ms. Ramanathan criticised the Bombay Prevention of Beggary Act of 1959 that treats beggars as criminals.

Indu Prakash Singh, who works for the rights of the homeless, said: “As per Delhi’s Master Plan-2021 the Government was to have one shelter per one lakh people, which means there should have been 140 shelters in the city. There is gross neglect by the Government on its own plan.”

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