Amid confusion, no takers for night shelters in Patiala
A 27-year-old homeless woman, Seema, has to spend yet another bone-chilling night on the roadside with her few months old baby and family as they are being denied entry into temporary night shelters in Patiala. This is because they don’t have Aadhaar cards.
Amid cold wave and rain, the family has been spending the entire season on roadside just a few metres away from a government temporary night shelter near Khanda Chowk.
This is not just the story of Seema, but of a number of beggars, ragpickers and homeless families who do not possess any aadhaar card.
The Patiala municipal corporation (MC) had built three temporary night shelters with the objective of offering shelter to the homeless. However, as it is mandatory for anyone who wants to stay at these shelters to produce aadhaar card as identity proof and many homeless people do not have this, the authorities are getting poor response.
Moreover, many homeless people claimed that the officials concerned present at the shelters object to new mothers from staying, citing that the newborn children might urinate and defecate inside the temporary shelters.
Subsequently the shelters, especially the women sections, are lying vacant across Patiala.
Bablu, a beggar, said, “My wife, I and our newborn child spent two nights at a shelter but the official asked us to vacate the shelter because our baby urinated and defecated while in bed.”
A watchman at a night shelter, pleading anonymity, said, “Most of the beggars get drunk at night and vomit on beds. So, senior officials have directed us to prohibit their entry so that they don’t soil the beds.”
“But we have never denied entry to women and children, in fact, it is them who are not willing to stay at the shelters,” he said.
“Also, we have been directed to not allow anyone to stay if they cannot produce an aadhaar card. Our higher authorities said that we need to do so in order to be able to identify people in case any mishap takes place,” he added.
MC commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur said, “Beggars and other homeless people are unwilling to stay at the night shelters. An MC team and I spent a day trying to bring them at the night shelters, but they refused to do so.”
“Good Samaritans are donating warm blankets among the homeless so they choose to sleep on roadsides rather than staying at the shelters,” she said.
“No one is denied entry at these night shelters. Besides, there is no need to show aadhaar cards to gain entry. Someone must have misguided them. I will look into the matter at the earliest,” she added.