BY VISHWAS DASS
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 6: It is again a harsh unforgiving winter for hundreds of homeless destitute who dwell in the streets of Bhubaneswar under open sky.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) which claims to be the best civic body in the state in ensuring civic amenities, this year too has done nothing for the homeless.
One of the night shelters at Bhimpur on Kargil Road was closed under mysterious circumstances. Unconcerned about the plight of the destitute spending chilly nights under the open sky, BMC has locked the Bhimpur night shelter to prevent any intrusion.
Notably, hundreds of homeless people can be found braving wintry nights at the city railway station, Baramunda bus stand and pavements due to the government’s apathy.
The city which is poised to become one of the smartest cities does not have shelters for its roofless poor including men, women and children, for whom the open sky is the shelter.
Through long cold nights, bleary-eyed with little sleep, homeless destitutes squat around tiny fires lit with dry leaves, desperately trying to keep themselves out of the chill.
The situation can be gauged by the fact that BMC is yet to engage a firm or NGO to maintain its two night shelters.
“We will soon float a request for proposal (RFP) to rope in a competent firm which can look after the night shelters built in association with the Centre. I have taken the charge of night shelters a month back, so I do not have adequate information about it,” BMC JNNURM project officer Srimant Mishra said.
The BMC would, however, build eight shelters for urban homeless, he hastened to add.
BMC officials parried the question as to why the Corporation remained inactive for several months and did not do anything to engage a firm before winter season set in.
Imran Shareef, a cycle-rickshaw puller who struggles to spend the nights under a concrete roof. “I am trying to earn another Rs 20 so that I can hire a quilt and mattress for the night. There is no night shelter in this city. Had there been one, many homeless people like me would not have to struggle every night looking for shelters,” he said.
“It is disheartening that BMC kept silent on the issue and did not engage a firm to run shelters,” four-time corporator Sheikh Nizamuddin said.
