BackDelhi homeless on street demanding basic amenities
Delhi homeless on street demanding basic amenities
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New Delhi: With the summer at its peak the homeless in the capital are out on the streets demanding basic amenities as promised to them by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board. The lack of water, electricity and basic health facilities at the shelters constructed for homeless people has brought them back on the streets of the city.
DUSIB has not taken any action yet, despite the orders said Indu Prakash Singh, technical advisor, Indo-Global Social service Society (IGSSS), a not for profit organization that works with eliminating urban poverty.
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Nearly hundreds of homeless people and activists gathered near Delhi’s ITO corridor, in protest against the governments inaction towards provision and maintenance of the basic amenities, required for the homeless shelters in the capital
“The shelters are still in an un inhabitable condition, many have fallen in dust storms due to the poor construction", he said.
Arbitrary evictions for slums has reduced at least 14 lakh homeless people in the capital, including women, children, infirm and ailing. The Yamuna Pushta area has the maximum such evictions according to surveys by the IGSSS. Sheela Devi a former resident of the area says the Delhi Government would arrive without notice and demolish their jhuggis, in the process they lost a number of valuable documents that make them eligible to apply for slum housing schemes of the Government. She now lives on a pavement with her family and is unsure of when she will get space at a homeless shelter.
Although the government had made permanent shelters across the city many were sealed in 2010 for the beautification of the city during the Commonwealth Games. Slum dwellers along the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium were evicted from land provided by the government without rehabilitation.
“During the games the number of homeless rose exponentially. The government refused to recognize them and DUSIB did not give them an alternative" said Singh.
On 8 June nearly a hundred homeless people came out to protest at the DUSIB office for their basic rights. DUSIB accepted their memorandum saying they would revamp all the shelters by 15 June.
“they have heard what we had to say and we hope they will do what they promise. It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to live in these shelters and so we end up sleeping and living outside on the streets", said Zubeda who lives in a shelter constructed by the IGSSS.
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