JOIN USA shelter too far for the City poor
The Palike has not only lagged behind in constructing shelters for the urban homeless, but has also applied no thought in choosing locations for the shelters, the Joint Inspection Committee (JIC) of the Supreme Court Commissioner’s Office has found.
The committee comprising Clifton Rozario, Advisor to the Commissioners of Supreme Court, Rajani, Kshitij Urs, K Venkatesh, Lakshpathi and Veeraiah, found that the shelters constructed by the Palike were not in the vicinity of the areas inhabited by the homeless.
The committee, with the help of NGOs, has identified many such areas in the City that need immediate attention and has submitted a report on it to the Palike. However, the Palike, which has set up only six shelters accommodating about 200 of the close to 18,000 homeless in the City, is yet to act on it.
To strengthen their argument, Indo-Global Social Service Society (IGSSS), one of the NGOs, has gathered details of the number of people who have died due to unbearable cold during winter in three such pockets –– City Market area, Cottonpet and its vicinity, Kalasipalya (see table).
A total of 159 persons have been reported dead in these three areas from 2009 to 2011. And 84 of them have died due to chronic lung infection.
The organisation argues that these areas provide employment to the homeless, but the Palike has shown little interest in building shelters here.
Rajani, one of the members of the JIC, said: “The building behind the KR Market complex has two unoccupied floors. We have been trying to impress upon the BBMP to convert them to shelter homes but there has been little reciprocation. The place can easily accommodate about 500 persons. We have identified similar buildings in other places.”
Given such a situation, she argues that it is no surprise that the shelters are not occupied to their capacity.
The JIC has noted that the State government is not clear on the concept of urban homeless and that there is ambiguity on the implementation of the scheme and funding sources.
“Unlike their other projects, there has been no attempt made to publicise these shelters, which is one of the reasons for the low occupancy,” one of the members said.
Also, there is no awareness programme or counselling for the homeless to make use of the services completely.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Clifton Rozario said: “Given Palike’s attitude, we are in the process of evolving comprehensive guidelines for the implementation of the project. It should be complete in about a week’s time.”
After the inspection of the centres, the committee has found that some of them have limited capacity of as low as 12. “...The expenditure on such centres is a wasteful exercise,” it has noted in its report.
Besides, the shelters also lack facilities that are expected to be provided. There are no referral services except in two-three centres.
The Palike has not followed the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.
“The centres do not even have regular staff to maintain them. Only a security guard has been appointed during the nights,” another member pointed out.
Unnatural deaths
Data collected from the City Market, Cottonpet and Kalasipalyam police stations on the cases of unnatural deaths of the homeless. (Obtained under the Right to Information Act)
City market 2009 2010 2011
Death records 14 8 27
Pending case 1 0 2
Victims identified 2 0 2
Average age 47.7 45.12 47.4
Deaths between 5 5 14
August and January
Deaths due to chronic 3 7 19
lung infection
Cottonpet 2009 2010 2011
Death records 20 16 5
Pending case 1 0 0
Victims identified 4 4 1
Average age 45.7 48.12 45.75
Death between 13 11 1
August and January
Deaths due to chronic 13 9 4
lung infection
Kalasipalyam 2009 2010 2011
Death records 17 22 30
Pending case 1 1 1
Victims identified 4 0 1
Average age 45.7 50.5 46.8
Deaths between 3 3 7
August and January
Deaths due to chronic 3 13 13
lung infection