Homeless suffer in heat, water problems at their shelters

Despite the rise in mercury, there is next to no water facilities at shelter homes across the city, including the ones which the Lieutenant Governor’s office had inspected last year, resulting in suspension of six Delhi Jal Board officials then. 

The apathy towards the homeless is visible from the fact that water tanks installed at some of the night shelters have holes in them, causing the water to leak from containers. 

At a few other shelters water is being used up by nearby eateries or tea stalls, leaving the homeless population high and dry. Deccan Herald visited 15 shelter homes over the past couple of days. The areas covered included Taimur Nagar in Okhla, Neela Gumbad, Nizamuddin Railway Station, Kashmiri Gate, Sarai Kale Khan, Vasant Vihar and R K Puram. While a shelter home at Sarai Kale Khan is facing a problem of ‘heated water’ due to no shade above the tank, destitutes living at another night shelter in the vicinity complain of water theft.  “People from nearby tea stalls end up using all the water. The tank gets empty before we know it,” said Prakash (name changed), a homeless. “We have complained to the authorities also but no action has been taken so far,” he added.Another issue faced by destitutes is irregular water supply. 

“There is always scarcity of water supply at our shelter home. It is supplied once in three days or so,” said Rekha (name changed), a homeless living at a night shelter in Okhla. Deccan Herald also found the quantity of water low in the tank here. The Delhi High Court had ordered that water should at least be supplied twice a day to shelter homes in the city. Inhabitants of night shelters that received water on a daily basis have to use the same water for drinking as well as for toilet purposes. “We are happy that we get water daily,” said a homeless living at a night shelter in Vasant Vihar.

Dirty toilets with no water has become the bane of destitutes living at almost every shelter home.

NGOs working for the homeless blamed the lackadaisical approach of city government bodies like the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and the DJB for not ensuring adequate supply of water at night shelters.

Last year, the LG had ordered a surprise inspection of all shelter homes, of which seven were found to have no water supply. These night shelters were located in Vasant Vihar Pahari, Taimur Nagar, Sarai Kale Khan and Neela Gumbad.