Windjammer
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Shekhar Sahni ran away from his parents in Bihar after being repeatedly hit by his mother at the age of 17. He came to Delhi with dreams of becoming an actor and joined the prestigious National School of Drama. He casually experimented with drugs with friends and, before he knew it, he became addicted. He soon dropped out of college and had barely any money or a place to live in. Four months ago, he moved into a night shelter set up by the government and run by a non-governmental organization, the Indo-Global Social Service Society.
Despite his condition, he hasnt lost hope: he makes some money working as a laborer and attends classes at a Delhi university. He hopes to become a travel guide someday.
On the evening when India Real Time paid a visit to a temporary night shelter near the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, in the Connaught Place area, there were at least 60 men cramped in one tent and 40 women in another slightly more spacious tent. The tents provide camp beds and blankets, but these are rarely warm enough to protect guests from the biting cold. A caretaker looks after each tent, but they havent been paid in four months. The NGO that runs them say they have not received financial assistance from the government and cant afford to pay the salaries on their own.
Winters claim the lives of many homeless in Indias north. Almost 100 people have died so far in India this year, according to reports, and the figure is likely to climb, as the cold season lasts until February.
There are around 150,000 homeless people in Delhi but shelters in the city can only house a maximum of 9,000 people per night, according the NGO. The number of shelters in the city grew significantly after January 2010, when a local court ordered the Delhi government to provide shelters to all homeless people. More recently, Indias Supreme Court has reportedly ordered all states to guarantee shelter for homeless people during the winter. In Delhi, the local government has so far failed to open a sufficient number of shelters.
As per High Court directives, the government should have set up 186 shelters by now and they are way off the mark, said Indu Prakash Singh, an official at the Indo-Global Social Service Society. There are currently 64 permanent shelters and 89 temporary shelters in Delhi, according to V. Kumar Sharma of the Delhi Board of Urban Shelter Improvement.
Mr. Singh recently submitted a report to the Delhi High Court on the state of 24 shelters in the city. The report paints a grim picture of night shelters in Delhi: it found that five of the shelters reviewed were closed. In other cases, caretakers were found to shut down the shelters early or even refusing to let people in.
On Wednesday, the court ordered local authorities to immediately open all existing shelters and to set more up as soon as possible, according to Mr. Singh. Government officials have responded that some of the shelters were still closed from the summer but will open soon.
The report made another, even more surprising discovery: 11 of the shelters it reviewed had no people staying there at all. One of the reasons behind this is that many homeless people dont know where the shelters are.
There are no signs or boards of any kind to guide these people towards the shelters, which are not very easy to find, said Mr. Singh. When India Real Time approached a group of homeless people huddled on a pavement near Connaught Place, we found they were surprised to hear there was a temporary shelter located less than a mile away. There is a shelter nearby where we can stay for free? one of them asked, visibly bewildered. Temporary shelters are free, while some permanent shelters charge up to six rupees ($ 0.11) per night for people aged 16 or above.
Another issue is location: many shelters are located in areas that are difficult to reach for homeless people. A lack of adequate planning means that neighborhoods with a high density of homeless people often have no shelters. The area near the Jama Masjid and the Okhla Mandi have a large number of homeless, yet there seems to be no shelter there, said Mr. Singh. Several shelters are located in richer colonies, where residents can be hostile to homeless people.
Many of them are concerned about the health and safety standards of many shelters. The previous shelter that we stayed in burnt down. I lost my daughter in the fire, said a guest of a temporary shelter near Connaught Place, whose daughter died last month. This was not an isolated incident: 17 night shelters were closed this year due to fire outbreaks, according to Mr. Sharma of Delhis urban shelter department.
The Delhi government has vowed to do more to protect its homeless. We are in the process of building more fire resident shelters, nine were opened a week ago and another 30 will be up and running by 2012, said Mr. Sharma.
Delhis Neglected Homeless - India Real Time - WSJ
