On the occasion of World Homeless Day being observed on Sunday, the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) has appealed to the State government to come up with State-specific guidelines to address the gaps in the welfare measures in place for homeless people.
In a statement, the Chennai-based NGO said that while the Tamil Nadu government was currently operationalising Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH) based on guidelines by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, there were several gaps.
There was lack of interdepartmental coordination in the rescue and rehabilitation of homeless people. Also, a majority of the shelters functioning across the State lacked employment linkages, credit linkages and psycho-social rehabilitation, the organisation said stressing on the need for effective linking of various welfare measures of the State with the shelter.
It pointed out that as per the Centre’s scheme, shelters that were more than five years old were not provided with the operation and maintenance costs by the urban local bodies, which made their functioning difficult. The organisation highlighted the need for quality and social audits of the shelters across the State.
