HYDERABAD: As many as 4,214 persons have been identified living without having any shelter in the erstwhile 74 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Telangana state, including Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) which has about 1,524 homeless persons.
These figures were arrived at through a third party survey commissioned by Telangana Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (TMEPMA), a wing of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) department. The agency has carried out the survey in the previous ULBs including GHMC and submitted a detailed report to the TMEPMA a few days ago.
People sleeping under open sky pavements in the night even after seven decades of Independence was in breach of the right to life guaranteed under the Constitution, said the Supreme Court and has been directing States to provide night shelter facilities, even if temporary. Right to shelter was part of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 and that it was obligatory on the part of the States to “protect and preserve” human lives.
The apex court two years ago had slammed the Centre and State governments for a lackadaisical approach in providing shelters to the poverty-stricken in urban areas despite the availability of sufficient funds. The Central government is giving money to the State and the States have not spent them.
"The money is not spent by the states and the sufferers are the homeless people. How can you ensure that the money is spent? It should not be diverted as the money has been given for a specific purpose,” the court said.
TMEPMA sources said that as per the Action Plan 2019-20 under Shelter For Urban Homeless of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) component, a third party survey was done in 74 ULBs and about 4,214 urban homeless were identified. It has asked the GHMC Additional Commissioner and TMEPMA to furnish the report on the targets for setting up shelters for homeless for the year 2019-20 and also the status of the functioning shelters. TMEPMA requested a survey on urban homeless in 68 new ULBs and submit the report on targets for setting up shelters for urban homeless for 2019-20.