Ramesh Yadav, a native of Uttar Pradesh, has been living on the streets of Delhi for several years. He says that shelters for the homeless are a good idea but he does not want to use them — the fear of head and body lice scares him.
“It’s just too much,” says Ramesh, sitting outside the YMCA building near Parliament Street. “There is nothing to worry about here. I don’t have to worry about catching infections or poor cleanliness. In the shelter homes run by the government, the blankets are never washed... these are then shared by everyone. So it becomes difficult to stay clean,” says Ramesh, who usually sleeps at the nearby bus stop.
‘Dangerous’
Ramesh says violence is also rampant in the shelter homes.
“There are fights for space and those on drugs are sometimes so violent that it becomes very difficult and dangerous to stay around them. Older men like me suffer and get pushed around. We can’t fight the younger and stronger lot. The staff at these centres add to our misery by treating us like beggars. They abuse and some times even physically assault us,” says Ramesh.
