CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation is currently developing a website for its ‘Wing for Homeless Shelters’, to predominantly help the inmates of shelter homes find jobs. Apart from this, it will display information on the types of shelters (male, female, children, transgender) and the link of their location, success stories of reunions with family and awareness videos.
“We have a lot of unemployed inmates who have completed their graduation and some, even post-graduation. Most of them finished studies in their respective home towns and came to Chennai in search of a job. When they could not find one, they eventually took to the roads, from where we picked them and shifted them to shelter homes. So, we wanted to address the issue from where it began — finding a job,” said one of the senior officials at the Wing for Homeless Shelters.
The website will display photographs and profiles of prospective job applicants. Moreover, it is not only for people who have completed their studies, but also others looking for skill-based jobs. “There are people looking out for the posts of drivers, cooks, house help and other similar jobs. We will put up that information too,” said the official.
Apart from this, the website will have a list of all the shelter homes, their address and Google locations of each place. It will also have a separate tab for awareness videos on what to do if one comes across a homeless person on the road.The officials also said they will use the website to call for CSR funds. “We are currently getting a fund of `10 lakh per shelter home, for a year of operation and maintenance.
However, we are only able to provide basic facilities like food, blankets, mats, pillows and medicines through the fund. So, if the CSR fund flows in, we can upgrade the shelter homes with television, cots and CCTVs,” the official said, confirming that the website will be on web within two months.Currently, there 38 shelters for homeless persons in the city, which are run by NGOs under the purview of the civic body. Another 33 are under construction.Meanwhile, the mobile application proposed by the department to trace the homeless, will still take at least six months time to be launched.
Daily rescues to begin
Chennai: Against the fortnightly rescues taking place currently, the civic body is going to carry out rescues on a daily basis from January 1. For the purpose, they have procured three mini vans, at `10 lakh each. The implementation of the project is already late by over six months. The three vans will be deputed in Central, North and Southern regions of Chennai. Besides coordinators, each van will have one staff who will double up as a nurse and counsellor, to help counsel the rescued people into going to shelters. “Currently, we are using ambulances and government vans. So, it is only possible to do it once in 15 days. This move would help the homeless majorly,” said the official.
Mapping the features
The website will have a list of all the shelter homes, their address and Google locations of each place. It will also have a separate tab for awareness videos on what to do if one comes across a homeless person on the road.