: The intense heat waves sweeping across North India has claimed the lives of over 100 homeless people in April, with Delhi’s northern districts reporting the maximum number of such deaths.
In April of this year (till the 28th), 244 unidentified bodies have been found.
“Of this, 80 per cent are of homeless people. Out of that figure, 40 to 50 per cent are heat-related deaths, which could have been prevented had proper facilities been put in place. A homeless person is already undermined by malnourishment, drug addiction, lack of access to timely medical intervention, tuberculosis and other immunity compromising diseases; dehydration and extreme exposure (to heat or cold) then is a fatal blow,” said Sunil Kumar Aledia of the Centre for Holistic Development (CHD).
“In April, 61 deaths were reported from the north district that includes Kashmiri Gate, Chandhi Chowk, Mori Gate etc., which has a large concentration of daily wagers and homeless,” said Mr. Aledia.
“They work through the harsh afternoons without assured access to water, food and shelter. The summer heat aggravates their fragile physical condition causing a sharp rise in deaths as soon as the summer months set in,” Mr Aledia said, adding that the Central district reported 27 such deaths and Outer Delhi reported 18.
Delhi currently has around 82 to 84 permanent and over 100 temporary shelters for the homeless, however, it has allocated just 12.6 per cent of the proposed space for the shelters under the Master Plan for Delhi – 2021.
While the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) had announced an elaborate winter action plan, Mr. Aledia said that the department still hasn’t initiated its summer action plan or organised a joint apex advisory committee meeting.
Chief executive officer of DUSIB V.K Jain said: “Under our mandate we provide night shelter to those in need. We never refuse anyone who is in need.
The 200 night shelters that we run have clean drinking water, toilets, fans and most of them have TVs . There is no correlation between deaths of unidentified persons and shelter homes. In summer we are providing air and water cooler in every shelter. Also we are going to upgrade all night shelters as per National Urban Livelihoods Mission guidelines.”
“There also has been no shelter audit by the department this summer. The homeless need to be protected against the harsh summer and it is up to the department to ensure that the facilities that the homeless are entitled to are provide to them in a timely fashion,” said Mr. Aledia.
“Sadly over the past six years there has been little respite for the homeless and the number of deaths have stayed more or less the same. The Capital has been unable to bring down the number of deaths on the street due to climatic conditions now for over half-a-decade,” Mr. Aledia added.
