Traffic experts said on Monday that people who are forced to sleep on the Capital’s streets cannot carry all the blame for fatal accidents like the one on Sunday night at Nigambodh Ghat, where a car ran over 13 homeless migrants.
“The police just treat the vulnerable people sleeping on the pavements as anti-social elements. They should understand the problem and resolve the matter,” said S.P. Singh, senior fellow at the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training.
The mitigating factors that compel people to sleep rough need to be taken into account, he said, adding that, “it is shameful that people are sleeping on the streets in the National Capital. But, we need to look into why this is happening. It is not a standalone incident.”
Most of the people who sleep on the medians and pavements work in the vicinity as daily wagers. For some it is convenient to sleep on the roads, while others are forced to do so to be able to send money to their families.
Mr. Singh said “the powerful components in society”, those who park on the pavements and businesses who stock their goods on the roads, are ignored by the authorities. Once this is prevented, a message will be sent to the vulnerable people to stop sleeping on the roads.
Goods left on the pavements should be impounded, and shelters should be constructed near workplaces of large numbers of migrant labourers, Mr. Singh said.
