JOIN USMalar is not alone. Giving her company in the ‘big bad metro,’ there are lakhs of people for whom the narrow lanes, pavements, market places, railway stations, flyovers, drainage pipelines turn homes. By dawn, the temporary shacks disappear, hardly leaving any trace behind and the homeless search for another temporary ‘home’ the next night.
Although the Supreme Court’s directive last year asked State governments to provide shelters for the urban homeless, there is little being done for people like Malar. The government and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) do not even have a policy for such people. In fact, a recent survey by the government threw up a figure of 2,868 homeless in the State –– which is a gross underestimation.
In an independent survey, the 179 enumerators of the Indo-Global Social Service Society (IGSSS) have identified 18,000 homeless in the City, while clearly stating that there are many more.
70 shelters
In spite of the Supreme Court’s directive on providing shelters to the homeless in 2010, the authorities are still in the process of defining what ‘urban homeless’ must be, in order to accommodate them in the proposed 70 shelters in the City.
After arriving at the definition, it will be followed by the designing of the proposed shelters, before finally settling on where these shelters will come up.
Even as most of these people do not have any form of identification, February 28, being the last day of the census enumeration process, has been allotted for them.
Census Operations Director, Karnataka T K Anil Kumar explains: “We have directed the enumerators to register the homeless wherever they meet them.
But the enumeration process for the homeless will take place only on the last day. This will also ensure that there is no duplication in the counting.”
Vulnerability
Malar’s story depicts the vulnerability of the homeless owing to government apathy.
Their personal, social, and economic security are all at stake.
Malar’s own story is enough to prove this. After selling the plastic she has collected throughout the day while sweeping the City roads for the BBMP, she narrates her saga.
Malar was forced to sell plastic after losing her husband in an accident last year.
She earns a meagre Rs 2,000 while she has to also clear a debt of Rs 40,000, which she had borrowed for her husband’s treatment. To add to her woes, a stray dog bit her son last year.
It is time the government wakes up to plight of the homeless, like Malar. Or else, they will continue to remain ever in the care of footpath.