New Delhi: If you take a stroll during shivering cold at night in the national capital, you will find hundreds and hundreds of people struggling to sleep on the pavements every where especially under railway bridges, over bridges, or under a small shed or even open sky.
To have a roof under their head is a long distant dream for these homeless people. Consequently they are forced to shiver under open or sleep on footpath 'beds'.
Despite many claims and promises made by the Central and State Governments to provide financial security and a roof to the poor, not much is visible on the ground.
Though there are 195 permanent shelter homes and 130 camps across the city, as claimed by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, not many prefer to stay there. The government every year before winter carries out a drive to get more people to these homes but due to lack basic facilities, many of them stay outside.
To get the first hand information about the ground reality, Dynamite News team reached many areas of the national capital and tried to find out the reason from the people who often spend the night on the footpath.
They gave plethora of reasons to 'sleep' during nights on pavements.
Talking to Dynamite News, one such person said that when we try to stay in some 'decent' place, the cops drive us away, calling us thieves and looters. Therefore we have no other option but to sleep on the footpath.
Some 'footpath residents' said that we have to stay here because in shelters, they ask for Aadhaar Card and other identity related documents, which we do not have.
Another homeless said that many times due to anti-social elements there, we also become the victims of crime.
Watch this link https://youtu.be/tdSvvJ8XsRo to know what 'footpath residents' in Delhi spoke to Dynamite News...
