PremiumEven after 75 years of independence and introducing a number of schemes to provide shelters to the homeless, many still sleep on roadsides. The situation becomes direr in winter, so a district of Odisha has started an initiative to ensure that no one sleeps under the open sky on winter nights. The Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) of Odisha has set up three-night squads that will help people sleeping alongside roads and will shift them to Shelters for Urban Homeless (SUH).
Three squads, one each for Sambalpur, Burla, and Hirakud are moving around the public areas of the city like railway stations, bus stands, hospitals, etc., and are helping to shift those people who are sleeping along the roadside, after taking their consent, Enforcement Officer of the SMC, Subhankar Mohanty, said.
Currently, Sambalpur has four shelters for the homeless. One is available at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) while others are located at Badbazar in Sambalpur, Burla, and Hirakud in the SMC area.
The Shelters for Urban Homeless (SUH) has a capacity ranging from 35-100 depending upon the region. The shelter at Sambalpur has a capacity of 100 while shelters at Burla and Hirakud have a capacity of 50. The shelter at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) of Sambalpur has a capacity of 35.
The Enforcement officer informed that currently, women self-help groups are managing the shelters. “We will soon put up banners and hoardings appealing to the people to apprise the civic body if they find any homeless person sleeping under the open sky on a wintry night. The mobile numbers of the members of the three squads will also be displayed in the banners and hoardings," he added.
The problem of people sleeping outside is still prevalent despite government schemes like Pradhan Manti Awas Yojna, which is for both rural and urban areas.
With inputs from PTI