Shelter for homeless yet to take shape in Thuvarankuruchi Government Hospital

TIRUCHY: Red tapism and inaction by the health department have led to an inordinate delay in the construction of a Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH ) at Ponnampatti panchayat in Tiruchy district. The work order and funds for the SUH, which is scheduled to be established inside Thuvarankuruchi Government Hospital, was sanctioned in 2019 but the construction has not begun. The work order was approved for one year. Shelters at Thootiyam and Lalgudi also face same fate.

The shelter is a part of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) scheme and it was sanctioned in the financial year 2018-19 according to the the government website. Following this, a tender was floated in December 2018 and a resolution was passed in the town panchayat council in January 2019. The agreement for the shelter was signed in January 2019 and a work order was given by the Executive officer to the contractor.

According to the work order accessed by TNIE, the cost of building SUH is Rs 21 lakh.

The shelter would be used by the relatives patients, visiting the GH, and destitute people. Despite everything in order, the setting up of the SUH made no progress, while the departments pass the buck of initiating the work to others.

Anbalagan, executive officer of Ponnampatti panchayat, said, "We are waiting for an approval for the health department. As the shelter needs to set up in the Thuvarankuruchi GH, the health department needs to allot the land and give their approval. We are reminding them periodically." Similarly, the work has not been started at Thottiyam and Lalgudi too.

Joint Director of Health Services , Tiruchy, Dr Lakshmi said that they are working on it.

"In Thuvarankuruchi, we are in talks with the civil engineer to earmark a place for the shelter. The engineer will allot a place inside the hospital soon. In Thottiyam, there is no place in the hospital and other locations are being looked it," said Dr Lakshmi.