Delhi govt fails to ‘shelter’ 1,100 homeless people

NEW DELHI: As icy winds and cold swept Delhi this winter, authorities in the capital failed to persuade more than 1,100 homeless people to move into the AAP’s night shelters, according to official data.

The Delhi government has been informed that 1,167 people in the city have rejected attempts by the rescue teams to place them in the night shelters.

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which deploys the rescue teams, has written to the government’s revenue department apprising it of the situation.

The reluctance shown by the homeless to shift to the night shelters is due to unhygienic conditions, theft, lack of space, and frequent brawls.

“It has been reported that 1,167 homeless persons literally refused to shift to the night shelters due to literally refused to shift to the night shelters,” shelter board member (engineering) M.K.Tyagi had written in a letter to the revenue secretary last month. The letter also mentioned in addition, 30 more families of Kathputli Colony have been spotted on pavements under Shadipur flyover in west Delhi. The concentration of the homeless, not willing to move to shelters, are in Kashmere Gate ISBT, Hanuman Mandir in CP and AIIMS.