GHMC’s warm gesture for homeless

Coming to the rescue of the homeless, the GHMC operates 14 night shelters in different parts of the city.

Hyderabad: Harsh winter conditions taking a grip on the city and the mercury dropping to around 15 degrees Celsius has the denizens scurrying to protect themselves from the cold weather conditions. However, the worst affected are the homeless and footpath dwellers who struggle to escape the winter bite.

Coming to the rescue of the homeless, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) operates 14 night shelters in different parts of the city. These are in addition to seven shelter homes that are located in the premises of government hospitals where the needy find a respite from the effects of dropping night temperatures.

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According to the GHMC officials, these night shelters and shelter homes are almost packed in night with the homeless in the city seeking to spend the night time here. As of now, more than 1,000 needy persons have been finding shelter and more are expected as the temperatures drop further in the coming weeks.

GHMC officials and the personnel manning the night shelters said the number of inmates at these facilities has increased since October. While the capacity of the night shelter at Begumpet is 45, the occupancy has increased to 60 inmates.

Similarly, the capacity of the night shelter located inside Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) is 115, but over 200 people use it during winter.

“To accommodate more people at night shelters we have provided extra beds. Temporary arrangements have also been made inside the shelters so that more people use these facilities,” said a GHMC official.

Meanwhile, Jayasri from Sri Education Society, an NGO taking care of the inmates at the night shelter located beneath Begumpet Flyover, said due to the harsh weather conditions, more homeless people were coming to the facility to sleep. “We are also identifying and accommodating those involved in seeking alms and staying on the footpaths,” she said.

Indira from Aman Vedika NGO which takes care of the inmates at the night shelter in Malkajgiri, also said that compared to summer and monsoon seasons, more people are utilising the facility during winter.

At most of these 14 night shelters, the GHMC officials and the NGOs are serving breakfast and lunch and ask the inmates to cook their own food during the night.

“We are supplying the inmates with all the raw materials including rice, pulses, edible oil, cooking equipment, etc. We want the inmates to realise the effort that goes into cooking, so we decided not to serve cooked food during the night,” said an official.