Delhi's homeless swamp night shelters in bone-chilling Dec

With winter temperatures beginning to dip, slum and roadside dwellers of Delhi-NCR are making a beeline for night shelters to spend their nights in relative comfort. Tuesday turned out to be one of the coldest days in several years as the minimum temperature dipped to 5.5 degree celsius.

"Most night shelter homes have 15 beds but around 20 to 25 people come here every night. We provide extra bedding to the remaining people and adjust somehow" said Dharmendra, caretaker of a shelter home in the Akshardham temple area.

On asking what facilities are provided at the shelter home, he said "we provide bed, blankets, pillows, drinking water and television here."

As per the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) website, a total of 62 help requests were received through app and six were attended by the control room on telephone till date. Twenty people have been rescued on the basis of complaints. Apart from that, 17 Rescue Teams of DUSIB have shifted 3,351 homeless to the nearest shelter homes from November 15 till date.

As per the website, night occupancy in DUSIB shelters on December 21 was 9,343 (221 night shelters). However, DUSIB member Bipin Rai told IANS that there are a total of 193 permanent shelters and 66 tents. "We also provide medical treatment to the people living in the shelter homes through our team of doctors," he said.

Rai added that there are plans to serve breakfast to the people at the shelter homes in the near future. "From January 1, 2020, Delhi Shelter Board will provide tea and rusk to those living in different shelters," said Rai.IANS