A day after the city recorded death of two homeless persons due to severe cold wave, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) on Thursday said it has increased the number of family night shelters to 30 and set up one specifically for lactating mothers.
DUSIB Chief Executive Officer Amar Nath said that during inspections it was noticed that in some locations, the homeless were not utilising the nearby night shelters as families wanted to be together. Hanuman Mandir, Connaught Place, Jama Masjid, Nizamuddin were identified some of the areas where this was noticed, he added.
“Hence, concerted efforts have been made to open 30 new night shelters for the families. It was noticed that some of the homeless continue to live under the flyovers and hence it was decided that for one month tents shall be provided under the flyovers for them,” he said.
DUSIB has also implemented the concept of shelter management agency (SMA) in order to streamline the management of night shelters and mitigate the problems faced by homeless during winter this year, he added.
“A cluster of around 25 contiguous night shelters each have been awarded to SMAs through open bidding process. Service level standards and performance standards have been prescribed for the shelter management agency to ensure accountability and desired performance,” said a DUSIB statement.
Penalty has been prescribed for parameters like not maintaining cleanliness and non-reporting of number of homeless people on roads. A total Rs.13 crore has been sanctioned by the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor for night shelters during the last one month and more than 257 night shelters are functional as on date.
“A multi-pronged approach in coordination with various departments of the Delhi Government, Delhi Police, NGOs has been adopted. DUSIB officers are regularly going on night vigils and inspections to review the facilities in the shelters and to identify locations where the homeless are still present,” said Mr. Nath.
(With inputs from PTI)
