Much-delayed night shelters must be built, say activists

NAVI MUMBAI: City-based activists have criticised the civic body for further delaying the construction of two night shelters for the homeless in Ghansoli and Koparkhairane, despite guidelines of Supreme Court about making night shelters mandatory in all major cities.
“It is sad and shameful that the civic body's general body meeting meeting earlier this week failed to come up with a concrete plan to construct the night shelters in the satellite city,” said RTI activist Anarjit Chauhan.This is only delaying an important public service for the poor, despite directions issued by the apex court of India, he added.
If the corporators have raised objections about how these facilities will be maintained and raised concerns about criminal activities taking place, then NMMC must submit a review petition in the Supreme Court to spell out their apprehensions, said Chauhan.
At the general body meeting on Wednesday, the corporators had raised the issue of lack of proper monitoring system at these shelters and criminal activities such as chain-snatching taking place.
Mayor Sudhakar Sonawane also suggested that a survey should be undertaken to find out which areas have more homeless persons and build night shelters accordingly.
“It is bizarre to first find out where there are more homeless people because they are found practically everywhere. And if they come to know about night shelters in, say, Koparkhairane or Ghansoli, they will surely go there to protect themselves.” It appears some influential people do not want homeless shelters to come up in their “elite” he observed.
Another activist, Ravi Srivastava, said, “I feel that the civic commissioner must prevail and ensure that the two planned night shelters are built soon for the poor homeless people.”
Srivastava cited the example of excellent night shelters that have started in Delhi, as per Supreme Court guidelines.