Hyderabad rains: Homeless flee from one flooded spot to another

HYDERABAD:  Qamarullah Khan sits on the wet Barkas cemetery lane with his back against the wall of the graveyard with two other companions. Water has been seeping through the nooks and crannies of the graveyard and flowing on the streets, since heavy rains started in the area. 

However, for Khan this particular spot is a piece of paradise compared to the low-lying areas he was earlier in, from where he had to flee as a result of the floods. Khan is a sexagenaraian who was rendered homeless after he was discarded by his family because he was not able to contribute monetarily.

"This spot is much better than it was earlier," says Khan, wearing a ragged blue kurta, and his beard dyed red. "My usual spot is near Baba Nagar. However, when the rains started and the floods happened, I fled from there and started resting here," Khan said. 

Khan is among the hundreds of undocumented homeless persons who are yet to find a roof in these incessant rains in a GHMC shelter. A week ago, MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao urged officials to shift the homeless to shelter homes. "Nobody has come for us," he said.

Khan has found companionship in two women, also homeless, and they sit together at the cemetery while begging for alms. While one who identifies herself as Mansallama said that she was earlier in the Indira Nagar area of Chandrayangutta before shifting here because of the rains, the other person was not comfortable sharing her name. 

Khan and the two women have a different problem at hand. Pointing at a large packet of food, "There are so many food packets in there. This will go to waste! We do not want so much for ourselves," they say.