The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) is in the process of finalising the results of a rapid survey conducted from June 16 to 18 and building seven new shelters.
“We have already got two plots from the Delhi Development Authority [DDA] and plan to build new shelters for homeless residents. Two shelters will be located in Dwarka; three in Rohini, of which one is functional and the other is in the process of being acquired; one in Narela, and one in Ghazipur,” said DUSIB (Night Shelter) director Kamal Malhotra.
“All these sites are well located, as per the needs of homeless residents. Earlier, we had received land in areas like plot no. 26 in Rohini, where there was no population,” he added.
While the agency is building new shelters, officials admitted that at present the agency is unable to ensure the occupancy of the nearly-500 temporary shelters as these are not suited to the heat.
“In response to the court orders last year following the deaths of homeless residents, we had to hurriedly build shelters out of tin, which become like ovens in this weather. The poor and the homeless prefer to sleep outside rather than inside these shelters, and so these are lying unoccupied,” said an official.
In its survey, conducted from June 16 to 18, the DUSIB had found 16,760 homeless residents in 269 spots, of which over 11,000 were on the streets and 5,000 were in existing shelters. The agency is still finalising the survey results, said officials, but civil society members have disputed the figures as well the survey methodology. Social activists said the agency had not given enough notice to civil society groups working on the issue since several years.
“The DUSIB’s notice was issued late on the evening of June 3, and gave one day for submitting proposals for joining in and volunteering for the survey. This effectively excluded most groups,” said Sunil Kumar Adeliya of Centre for Holistic Development, showing a copy of the said DUSIB letter.
DUSIB officials dismissed the allegations. “We gave civil society groups time, but it is not our fault if they submitted their letters and applications on the last day,” said Mr. Malhotra.
