NEW DELHI: The recent decision of Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to demolish a night shelter adjacent to Delhi Development Authority’s first bamboo park near the Sarai Kale Khan bus terminal triggered a controversy on Wednesday morning.The shelter inmates called the action “unjustified”, as did Indu Prakash Singh, member of State Level Shelter Monitoring Committee (SLSMC). At a gathering at the night shelter on Tuesday night, a decision was taken to oppose the demolition and to approach the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. Singh informed the shelter residents that the structure was going to be demolished without an alternative site being provided.“The shelter will be removed to create a smooth entrance to Baansera, the bamboo park developed by DDA. But no alternative space has been provided for the shelter, leaving numerous homeless people without a roof,” said Singh. SLSMC was constituted on the order of the Supreme Court in 2018.Singh told the gathering, “An agenda was placed at the DUSIB meeting on Monday in which the approval of SLSMC was sought to bring down the homeless shelter. When no place to shift to was provided, I strongly opposed the move. While police have called the shelter inmates ‘criminals’, DDA plans to demolish the home to create a passage for a dream project for the G20 events.” DDA did not respond to TOI’s queries on an alternative site for the shelter.Tuesday’s gathering was arranged to document the voices of the affected people who were living in the facility for years. RD Sharma remonstrated, “We are not criminals and if police have any allegations, they must list the people with criminal records living here.” Girish Tiwari added, “We might be poor and homeless but that doesn’t mean we are all thieves. If police already have such a perception about us, who can we then pursue in case of need?”In a letter to DUSIB’s deputy director on January 31, a copy of which is with TOI, the executive engineer of DDA’s horticulture department wrote, “The LG’s secretariat has given directions on January 25 to shift the night shelter located at the entrance of the bamboo park. It is also intimated that the Baansera site has been selected for one of the meetings related to the G20 summit in Delhi. Therefore, action should be taken on an urgent basis.”On February 7, Delhi Police wrote to the shelter board CEO stating that the crime trend in the vicinity of night shelter home suggested a gradual increase in thefts, snatchings and robberies since 2014 (the year when the shelter was set up) and, therefore, it would be better to shift the shelter to another location. “The accommodation has become a favourite hideout for bad characters and history sheeters,” the DCP (South-East) wrote. Asked about this, police officers claimed it was only an ‘observation’ sent to the authority concerned.On February 9, an email was sent to the civil division for the identification of a designated place where the homeless shelter could be shifted. The response was that no such place was currently available. The meeting on Monday therefore had an item asking for a proposal to be submitted to SLSMC “to allow the removal of the shelter without an alternative location”. The DUSIB CEO was not available for a comment. SLSMC chairman Ramesh Negi, meanwhile, said that the committee considered the proposal to remove the home altogether provided the inmates were shifted to another shelter with minimal inconvenience and nobody was rendered homeless.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/inmates-at-shelter-fight-for-roof-over-head-in-delhi/articleshow/97927481.cms