Recently, on December 23, three people were killed and six injured when a truck crushed people sleeping on the footpath in Wagholi. In Pune, several laborers and homeless individuals sleep on the footpath, raising important questions about why these people are sleeping in the open, especially during the bitter cold. Now, after the truck incident, the issue of people sleeping on the footpath has come to the forefront. Does the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) provide facilities to shelter the homeless? If shelters do exist, is there adequate awareness about how to access these facilities?
Here’s what PMC says
However, the civic body has claimed that despite the cold, the city’s homeless continue to sleep on footpaths rather than utilize the five shelter homes provided by the civic body. The reasons provided by the civic body for the underuse of shelters include homeless people not liking gender separation, fear of losing their space on the road, and the convenient locations for their informal jobs and begging spots.
At present, the PMC runs five shelter homes at Yerawada, Sena Dutta Police Chowky, Bopodi, Shivaji Nagar, and Pune Station. The shelter homes are operated with the help of NGOs. However, with the city’s population surpassing 42 lakh, the availability of only five shelters is far below the Supreme Court’s guideline, which mandates one shelter per lakh of the population.
Total shelters in Pune
An official from PMC said, “The civic body operates shelter homes to provide refuge to the homeless. The shelter homes are run with the help of NGOs, and the total capacity of these five shelter homes is 209 beds. Out of the five shelter homes, one is reserved only for women, situated at Shivaji Nagar, which has a capacity of 60 beds. Two shelter homes are reserved only for men, one situated at Yerwada with a capacity of 23 beds and the other at Bopodi with a capacity of 17 beds.”
He added, “During monsoons and winters, the shelter homes are well-occupied, but still, people living on the footpath don’t want to avail themselves of the facility. We have tried admitting them, but they prefer to stay in familiar open spaces close to their community. The division of shelters by gender and the inconvenience of being far from their work locations, such as begging spots or informal jobs, discourage them from using the space.”
Here’s what the homeless people said
Tula Bai (57), who migrated from Osmanabad, has her Aadhar card and voter ID card and lives on the footpath near PMC with her family, which includes her husband, daughter, and grandchildren.
“I have the documents, but I don’t want to go to the shelter home. I want to be with my family. Also, they give us food, but here we can cook our own meals as per our taste and convenience,” said Tula Bai.
PMC’s deputy commissioner (social development department), Nitin Udas, said, “We plan to launch an awareness campaign to encourage more use of the shelters. Our shelter homes have the facilities to provide hot water. During winters, many people move in, especially students coming from rural areas who seek these shelters. The homeless people are reluctant to move into the shelter house because they fear they will lose their spot, as they have their territory marked. I want to appeal to the NGOs and police to help us get more admissions for the night shelters.”
