Pointing this as a responsibility of the Centre and state government while asking them to be sensitive towards homeless people, Delhi High Court has directed to respond as to why there inadequate night shelters in the national capital . The HC on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the shortage of space and facilities at Delhi’s night shelters as the city grapples with extreme cold conditions.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia directed the Central and State governments and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to file their replies in the matter.The Bench said that it expects that all the authorities will take adequate steps to ensure the residents of the city can save themselves from the chilling cold.
"If any of us, God forbid, is required to stay there for a night, we don’t know what will happen. Be sensitive," the Court remarked. It said that the case will be considered again on January 14.The Court passed the order after the matter was brought to its notice by another Bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla.
Justice Hari Shankar and Shukla relied on a report published in The Hindu on January 11, stating that even as the temperature in Delhi reached below 5 degrees Celsius, several All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) patients and their families were sleeping outside the AIIMS metro station under the open sky due to lack of space in night shelters.
It was stated in the report that many people had come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand and Bihar but had no means to pay for a stay at any accommodation in Delhi. Pertinently, Delhi NCR is facing harsh weather conditions on account of cold wave as the temperature has dip as low as 3-4 degrees Celsius during last couple of days. Dense fog and persistent poor AQI has added to the severity of hardships for those who do not have any place to seek shelter.
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