Eye on Mumbai civic polls, Congress wants to ‘shelter’ homeless

In view of the upcoming civic elections in Mumbai and Thane, political parties have suddenly woken up to the well-being of the needy. To woo voters, the Congress has started a campaign demanding that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) provide night shelters for the homeless.

Vinod Shekhar, Congress corporator from Colaba, said, “There are thousands of homeless people in the city. Due to poverty they have to sleep on streets at night, which is embarrassing for any human being. They have to face a lot of problems during the monsoons and winter.”

“Considering prices of real estate, many among the poor cannot even afford homes in slums. This poor financial condition compels them to live on the streets. If the civic body provided them shelter at nights, things might change for the better,” he added.

Shekhar had moved a notice of motion in the civic general body meeting this month. The issue will now be discussed in an upcoming meeting on Thursday (July, 13).

Rajhans Singh, Congress leader in the BMC, has also supported Shekhar’s demand. “Our party already gave protection to slums prior to 1995. Our focus has always been the common man and we will go to any length to help them,” Singh said, adding, “It may help us in the upcoming civic election, but we are demanding this without any motive.”

According to the BMC’s estimate, there are about 1.5 lakh people live on the footpaths and are easy prey to diseases that spread during the monsoon. That apart, more than 10% of the homeless population in the city are either injured or killed in road accidents every year.

The Central government has also directed corporations to build night shelters for the homeless in the past. Following this, the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) and Gurgaon Municipal Corporation (GMC) built such shelters. Until now, the DMC has built 30 night shelters. According to the BMC’s estimate, Mumbai needs at least 50 night shelters.