Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday wrote a letter to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board CEO to raise his concerns about the alleged closure of shelter homes, saying the act contravened the Supreme Court’s order and even caused a homeless person’s death.
Referring to a letter by the Centre for Holistic Study, Bharadwaj claimed that several shelter homes were closed in contravention of the orders of the Supreme Court despite extreme cold weather conditions.
The letter alleged that five temporary shelter homes, erected in pagoda-style recently, were removed on the pretext that the area where they were set up was part of the Yamuna floodplain.
“It has further been alleged that this has resulted in the death of a homeless person,” Bharadwaj said in the letter.
He said that the apex court’s order says there shall be no demolition of night shelters in Delhi without its approval.
“These orders came in the wake of demolition of nine night shelters/shelter homes unilaterally, arbitrarily and unconstitutionally by DUSIB in furtherance of the beautification plan under the garb of G-20 summit.
“It is a matter of regret that while rendering a large number of homeless persons, DUSIB didn’t seek the approval of Govt of NCT of Delhi or the undersigned,” Bharadwaj wrote.
He said DUSIB failed miserably in rehabilitating the homeless to an alternative location and forced them to sleep in the open.
“… reportedly, DUSIB has removed temporary night shelter facilities from Dandi Park,” Bharadwaj said.
He alleged that in the last one year, DUSIB has demolished more than 10 night shelters located in front of Hanuman Mandir, ISBT Kashmiri Gate, and ISBT Sarai Kale Khan, all of which have a large concentration of homeless population.
“In the meantime, Pagoda Tents may be established at Dandi Park and its vicinity, and also in other areas where reports are received about homeless persons, so as to ensure that no homeless person stays under open sky during the winter period.
“Teams of DUSIB officers should be constituted and deployed to regularly watch the functioning of night shelters at night during the period of Winter Action Plan,” he said.
A Raj Niwas official said DUSIB is fully and totally under the government of Delhi.
“DUSIB is an agency fully and totally under the Delhi government as a transferred subject, and issues of slum dwellers and shelter to homeless that it is supposed to address, has been nothing but a story of neglect where shelters were used for nothing else but as publicity props,” the person said.
Saurabh Bharadwaj has the “habit of making patently false statements to divert attention from his government’s and especially his failures,” the official alleged.
“Be it the matter of blatant corruption in DJB of which he was Vice Chairman, flooding in Yamuna due to siltation, the scam involving fake medicines in govt hospitals and ghost tests in Mohalla Clinics, just to name a few, he has always tried to blatantly mislead,” the official added.
Lt Governor V K Saxena on his part, after his last visit to the shelters last year, had flagged the lack of basic amenities and hygiene there and called for correction, he said.
“Saxena has consistently been trying to provide the homeless in the city with a life of dignity in clean and hygienic shelters near their work place and source of livelihood,” the official from the LG’s office said.
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