GHMC’s warm gesture to homeless

With winter setting in, corporation moves to set up temporary night shelters to help them tide over wintry conditions

Hyderabad: The winter having set in and the minimum temperatures dropping considerably to hover around 15 degrees Celsius in the city, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is gearing up to set up temporary shelter homes for the homeless and the needy.

The civic body currently has 18 night shelter homes across its limits, and plans are being worked out to set up more to help the homeless tide over the wintry conditions.

The GHMC operates the existing facilities, including those set up in six government hospitals, in association with different NGOs and voluntary organisations. In addition to this, the corporation also distributes blankets to the poor in different areas of the city.

The corporation operates exclusive night shelter homes for men and women, and depending on the area and locality, each can accommodate 25 to 60 people. Though these can accommodate more, only around 500 people are taking shelter currently. However, the numbers of occupants keep varying, especially at hospitals, as some inmates move out to their native places while a few shift to another facility, says a GHMC official.

With the minimum temperature coming down in the last few days, officials are expecting more of the homeless to take shelter at the night homes. “Arrangements are being made accordingly,” the official adds.

To ensure coordination and facilities such as mattresses, blankets, drinking water, toilets etc., the municipal corporation issues instructions to the zonal offices to identify more locations for accommodating the needy, especially the old-aged. More temporary shelters will be set up and operated till January-end, if required, the official says.

These temporary facilities are being proposed to be set up in community halls, unoccupied model markets and trusts buildings etc. During every winter, the GHMC launches a special drive to identify the elderly and the homeless living by the roads in the city and shifts them to its night shelters.

The UCD wing of the GHMC takes up the drive in association with SHGs, Slum-Level Federations and other social organisations. Since officials and staff were assigned elections duties this year, these works could not be commenced earlier but will be taken up and completed shortly, the official says.

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