Over 57,000 Mumbaikars still sleep on pavements

Who are the people who sleep on the footpaths? This is the question character Jolly asks in the courtroom in the film

Jolly LLB , while arguing a hit-and-run case. It is often the homeless who become victims in such cases. In Mumbai, especially, the problem of homelessness is acute and the administration has made little effort citing space crunch as an excuse.

Based on official data, a PIL before the Bombay High Court filed by the Homeless Collective points to a glaring gap between the required infrastructure to tackle the issue of homelessness and the measures the administration has proposed so far.

Huge shortfall

According to the 2011 Census, the number of homeless people in Mumbai stands at 57,416. “According to the Supreme Court order, there should be one shelter per one lakh population. By that standard, Mumbai needs 175 shelters.

The National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) proposes one shelter for 100 homeless people, based on which Mumbai needs 574 shelters. However, in an affidavit filed in the High Court on November 24, the municipal corporation proposed that seven more shelters would be built in Mumbai in addition to the existing seven. There is a huge shortfall of shelters,” Pooja Yadav of the NGO YUVA, part of the Homeless Collective, told The Hindu .

The organisation said that BMC had cited lack of space as a major hurdle and wanted to dilute the NULM guidelines.

Target set

However, the BMC said that various landowning agencies are involved in the building of night shelters and the corporation had set a target of completing 10 shelters in the next two months.

The office of the Collector, Railways, SRA were also the authorities which could earmark a portion of their land for shelters.

“We are going by the apex court’s order of one shelter per one lakh population. Around 15 shelters are in the process of completion, which including existing seven,” additional municipal commissioner Pallavi Darade told The Hindu .

“Expressions of Intent have been issued and we are looking for places to build another 10 shelters. We have made huge progress and taken maximum action in Mumbai. Owing to the space crunch in Mumbai, we requested lowering of the criteria for Mumbai. We will complete our target of shelters. The city needs it,” she said, giving details of the plan to build more shelters.

According to an SC order, there should be one shelter per one lakh population. So, Mumbai needs 175 shelters