Despite the bitter cold, why Delhi’s homeless aren’t moving into night shelters
Several people said the shelters are ‘inaccessible’, and they’d rather take their chances on the streets.
“We live under this flyover only,” said Iqbal, 29. “We prepare our own meals and be with our children. We don’t stay in shelter homes because they will not allow us to live like this. So, we live here by choice.”
Days after Delhi’s lieutenant governor transferred a bureaucrat for the “inadequate and dirty” condition of the capital’s night shelters, Newslaundry visited a shelter near Kashmere Gate ISBT on December 29. The shelters were set up by the Delhi government as part of their winter action plan.
But locals described the shelters as “inaccessible”, saying they’d much rather take their chances on the streets.
Watch.
‘We are poor, who will listen to us?’: A night at Delhi’s night shelters
While homeless battle cold, most NGOs running Delhi’s night shelters snowed under funds crisisNL Digest
A weekly guide to the best of our stories from our editors and reporters. Note: Skip if you're a subscriber. All subscribers get a weekly, subscriber-only newsletter by default.
