DIVIDED IN NIGHTS

Many of capital's homeless people still sleep on pavements under plastic sheets, even as govt night shelters are fully functional to help everyone feel at home during the cold winter months. But the fear of illness, overcrowding, and poor food keeps them out. However, for many, these shelters are their homes,

- Aditi Ray Chowdhury

A makeshift tent with plastic covering it from both sides and stairs of a footbridge acting as a roof is the only refuge for 60-year-old. Uma Devi and her two daughters.

While walking towards gates no. 4 and 5 of AIIMS hospital during the night, she was seen sitting outside the tent in a wheelchair with the lower part of her body paralysed for years now. Two of her daughters, one in her early 20s and the other just 10, were sleeping inside.

However, just 10-20 steps ahead of her 'humble abode' was a series of 3-4 white tents set up by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to house the homeless people of the city during the chilly winter nights. These temporary tent-like arrangements that have been set up by the Delhi government for the winter months were spread across both sides of the road near the hospital.

On being asked as to why she does not stay in these shelters, Uma Devi said, "Most people staying in these tents are suffering from one or the other disease and have come to consult doctors at AIIMS." She further added, "Once while I was staying there, one of them started throwing up just in front of my food plate. Somehow that visual stayed with me, and I don't feel like going back there."

Different world

Few DUSIB tents remain overoccupied with teens to senior citizens curling up in blankets after the whole day's exhaustion.

At the RCC night shelter in Priyadarshini Colony, Yamuna Bazaar, where official data states that the capacity is 60, ground realities tell a different story. As more people-especially women arrive seeking refuge, the shelter exceeds capacity. With beds running out, many are left to spread their blankets on the floor. A caretaker at the shelter acknowledged the overcrowding and said, "At night, nearly 90-100 people, including men and women, stay here. Since the number of people staying exceeds availability, people sleep on the floors."