Scorched streets, silent struggles: Delhi’s homeless battle a 45°C furnace
NEW DELHI: The sun beats down mercilessly on Delhi as the temperature soars to a searing 45°C, turning the national capital into a furnace. As the sweltering heat casts its suffocating grip on the city, there is no escape for the homeless, whose struggles to survive in the relentless sun reveal the harsh reality of the urban poor in a city that, for many, offers little respite. On the streets outside the Kashmere Gate ISBT, a man dips a cloth in a few drops of water and places it on his forehead, his only attempt at alleviating the heat. Nearby, a mother fans her young child with a piece of cardboard, casting hopeful glances towards the passing crowd, but help remains elusive.
The city hums with the sound of air-conditioned cars whizzing by, as thousands like them endure the unforgiving heat with only their resilience to cling to, waiting for the cooler embrace of the evening breeze that seems like an eternity away.
The Footpath as a Home
Just a few kilometres away, in front of the AIIMS hospital, dozens of homeless individuals lie sprawled on the footpath, their bodies weak from exhaustion and dehydration.
Many are unable to move; their faces reflect the unbearable toll of the heat. Water is scarce—only plastic bottles filled from leaking pipes or shared between strangers provide momentary relief. In the historic lanes near Fatehpuri Masjid and Lahori Gate in Old Delhi, the streets, which once echoed with the footsteps of emperors, now narrate a different tale—of survival.
Homeless families huddle in the shade beneath crumbling archways, seeking shelter from the scorching sun.
Some have called this street their home for years, while others are recent arrivals, their lives upturned by the merciless cycle of poverty. The story is eerily familiar: no work, no shelter, and no escape from the scorching heat.
Ram Krishan, a 52-year-old street vendor who sells mobile phone covers outside the Lahori Gate, looks out across the footpath with a furrowed brow. “We have lived our lives, what about our children?” he asked. “I am worried about them. When the water spray tank comes on this road, I make my children stand under it, but that tank only comes once every 15 days. We sometimes manage to fill water from the police post,” he added.
As temperatures rise, the water crisis deepens. In other parts of the city, near Sarai Kale Khan and the Old Delhi Railway Station, the scene is strikingly similar.
Children run barefoot on blistering roads, while the elderly sit in the shade, their lips dry and their eyes searching for a sliver of relief.
Surviving the Heatwave
Mahesh, who occupies a spot on the footpath near Turkman Gate, has learned to endure the hardship. Flipping through his newspaper, he shared his thoughts: “Achchi baat hai ke khuli hawa mein azaad rehte hain, yeh samajh ke zameen hi apna ghar hai…” (It’s good that we live freely in the open air, considering the ground is our home). He added, “It’s like a nightmare sometimes when we struggle to even buy a single water bottle. There’s an office nearby and an AC is installed on the first floor. I fill my broken bottle with the water that falls from the AC outlet. That water is thankfully cold enough to quench my thirst.”
A System in Crisis
Behind the scenes, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) is grappling with a severe fund crunch.
A recently retired DUSIB official, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that the Delhi government disbursed the pending funds from the previous year only in March, but the budget for the current year remains stuck.
“We don’t have enough air coolers, water coolers, and the shelters themselves are in dire need of maintenance. This is because the NGOs concerned have not received their payments,” the official said.
Currently, there are 190 DUSIB shelters in the capital, divided into zones. Yet, even these spaces are overcrowded.
In recent years, the heatwave has claimed the lives of many homeless individuals in Delhi, with 2024 being a particularly devastating year. A report by the non-profit organisation Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) revealed that between June 11 and June 19, 192 homeless individuals died from the heat in the national capital. This alarming statistic prompted the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) totake suo motu cognizance of the issue.
