States must set up homeless shelters: Sheila
7 Feb 2013 1:08 AM GMT
Unable to overcome the problems posed by homeless migrants in the national Capital, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has now taken up the matter with the Centre. Dikshit, on several occasions, has claimed that the infrastructure in Delhi is being put under severe strain due to a daily migration of five lakh people to the Capital for work.
In a letter to Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Dikshit has demanded Delhi’s neighbouring states Haryana and Uttar Pradesh should build shelters on the border to accommodate the homeless from these states.
Dikshit, in her letter, urged that north India’s ‘misery states’ should set up home shelters at their borders to curtail large migrations. ‘Delhi Urban Shelter Development Board presently runs 132 Rain Basera (night shelters) in different part of Delhi, in which more than 50,000 people are living and they are using Delhi’s resources like food and water. The rest of the homeless people are residing under different flyovers. It’s not possible bear unwarranted burden,’ Dikshit is reported to have written to the Centre.
A Delhi Urban Home Shelter Development Board officer said if migration from these states does not stop in near future, there would be immediate need to increase night shelters to 173 from the present 132. Dikshit had also raised the matter at the meeting of NCR Planning Board and requested governments of the neighbouring states to begin setting up shelters in Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida.
The Board official pointed out that the residents of these shelters were also benefiting from Delhi government’s schemes of Aap Ki Rasoi and Janahar Yojana. Under Aap Ki Rasoi, a customer pays Rs 15 for a meal thali whereas under Janahar Yojana free distribution of surplus food from hotels, restaurants and caterers is organised through the government. Moreover Delhi has the culture of bhandara (free distribution of food) out religious places, where these destitutes can eat.
‘With such facilities available, who would leave Delhi?’ said the officer.
In a letter to Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Dikshit has demanded Delhi’s neighbouring states Haryana and Uttar Pradesh should build shelters on the border to accommodate the homeless from these states.
Dikshit, in her letter, urged that north India’s ‘misery states’ should set up home shelters at their borders to curtail large migrations. ‘Delhi Urban Shelter Development Board presently runs 132 Rain Basera (night shelters) in different part of Delhi, in which more than 50,000 people are living and they are using Delhi’s resources like food and water. The rest of the homeless people are residing under different flyovers. It’s not possible bear unwarranted burden,’ Dikshit is reported to have written to the Centre.
A Delhi Urban Home Shelter Development Board officer said if migration from these states does not stop in near future, there would be immediate need to increase night shelters to 173 from the present 132. Dikshit had also raised the matter at the meeting of NCR Planning Board and requested governments of the neighbouring states to begin setting up shelters in Ghaziabad, Sahibabad, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Noida.
The Board official pointed out that the residents of these shelters were also benefiting from Delhi government’s schemes of Aap Ki Rasoi and Janahar Yojana. Under Aap Ki Rasoi, a customer pays Rs 15 for a meal thali whereas under Janahar Yojana free distribution of surplus food from hotels, restaurants and caterers is organised through the government. Moreover Delhi has the culture of bhandara (free distribution of food) out religious places, where these destitutes can eat.
‘With such facilities available, who would leave Delhi?’ said the officer.
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