CHENNAI: The city corporation’s choice of location for its shelters for urban homeless children has raised safety concerns. For one, it recently moved its shelter for girl children to the Communicable Diseases Hospital (CDH) in Tondiarpet.
With the centre for men with psycho-social needs in the adjacent building and the CDH campus itself having no records of those entering and leaving its premises (barring a CCTV camera outside the building), the girls were restricted to the building when TNIE visited the spot.
The shelter was moved here a month ago as the previous building was dilapidated. However, it is not clear why this facility was chosen, especially when a previous report in TNIE highlighted the corporation terminating contracts for four of its shelters, leaving them with other usable buildings.
During the first wave of the pandemic, a part of the CDH served as a Covid-19 health centre and had a testing facility. If the hospital has to house Covid-19 patients again, it is unclear where the children will be shifted.
This isn’t the only children’s shelter in a questionable location. The shelter for boys in Kodungaiyur is right opposite a dump yard. During the pandemic, the civic body set up a primary healthcare centre (PHC) on the premises of a children’s shelter in Thiruvanmiyur, that is open to anyone for most of the day. Similarly, the PHC in Porur has a boys’ shelter.
A State government official who did not want to be identified said several complaints were raised against the running of shelter homes for children and hospitals on the same premises, and other corporation buildings could have been used.
“Running a school and shelter together would be recommended; the entry is largely restricted and children use the school infrastructure like playgrounds. Running shelters in hospitals increases their risk of infection and compromise security,” the official said.
Officials said at least five of the eight corporation-run shelters for children are not recognised as ‘fit’ institutions under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. “The DAY-NULM guidelines that are used for other shelters for the urban homeless do not mention children’s shelters.
We would recommend the city corporation handing over the shelters for children to the Department of Social Defence instead,” said Vanessa Peter, founder, of Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC).
When contacted, a senior corporation official said the issue would be looked into and an official will be deputed to inspect the facilities and file a report.