CHENNAI: IRCDUC, an NGO working for the urban poor, and other activists have submitted a series of petitions to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, urging the government to strengthen and expand shelters for the urban homeless functioning under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM) and formulate a comprehensive policy for homeless persons in Tamil Nadu.
In its petition, IRCDUC said shelters established following directions issued by the Supreme Court in 2010, and later supported under the National Urban Livelihood Mission since 2013, are facing severe challenges due to inadequate funding for rescue operations, rehabilitation, medical assistance, mental health support, livelihood training and social reintegration programmes.
They alleged that, barring the Greater Chennai Corporation, several urban local bodies are not allocating dedicated state funds for maintaining and improving shelter facilities. In a petition, Madurai-based activist V Ramachandran said the state-level monitoring committee constituted in 2018 to oversee homeless shelters met only three times. He urged the government to immediately convene the committee and conduct social audits to assess shelter conditions and identify implementation gaps.