Pavement dwellers: Telangana HC rejects GHMC commissioner’s report, calls it vague

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Thursday described as vague the affidavit filed by GHMC commissioner Lokesh Kumar on the pavement dwellers and rejected his report.
The bench of chief justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and justice B Vijaysen Reddy grew serious on the mechanical manner in which the details were poured in the affidavit without adding any explanation to them. How many destitute, mentally challenged, labourers, disabled persons are residing on the pavements. How many of them were shifted to temporary shelters? Which are those shelters?, the bench posed and said that the commissioner’s affidavit answers none of these crucial questions. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by advocate S Nanda who said that continued existence of people on pavements is a direct threat to social distance and fight against Covid-19.
Though the commissioner’s report did mention about shifting 28 persons to Saroor Nagar function hall, it did not have the details of where they were picked up, what physical deficiency they have etc.
Nanda told the court that every street in Secunderabad has pavement dwellers even today and the officials are not responding. The bench sought a detailed report that should be elaborate and must depict the efforts of the civic body.
Dealing with another PIL that charged GHMC officials with not allowing NGOs to reach the stranded at shelter homes, the bench went through some portion of the report that claimed that NGOs are indeed provided access to the stranded. The bench sought to know the details of the NGOs that were allowed entry into the shelter homes. Both the PILs were adjourned to May 15.