Delhi: With little means, night shelters our only option, say city's homeless

Singing lullaby to her 5-day-old baby boy, Hajra Bibi is cautious that others sleeping next to her don't get disturbed. For 22-year-old Bibi, who is yet to recover from her post-delivery issues, the major concern is to protect her infant from the chilly cold.

Her family of three was among 15 other families that take refuge at one of the Delhi government's night shelters colloquially known as "Rain Baseras" near Jama Masjid in the Walled City. "We have been living in these night shelters for the last four years. This one is the best I have come across," says Bibi as she carefully covers her son's face with the blanket.

The Rain Basera, having a capacity of 100 people, houses 15-18 families every night. "We get everything that the government can provide free of cost. However, it was difficult for me to live here during pregnancy as there are long queues outside the washroom every morning and it was difficult for me to wait," she said. Bibi, however, said that she has no option as her husband, a rickshaw puller, doesn't earn enough to rent out a jhuggi for them.

Currently, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), a nodal agency for management and operation of night shelters in the Capital, runs 261 night shelters having a capacity of more than 21,000 people. The night shelters are being run by different NGOs.

At another night shelter near north Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat, meant for elderly people, 65-year-old Ajay Sharma, was playing ludo with two of his fellows, while others had already slept off. Sharma used to work as a labourer in a factory until his left arm stopped working following a paralysis attack. "I sit outside a nearby temple throughout the day to collect some money for food and then come here to sleep. I wish elderly people like me were provided with the food here," he said.

He, however, is satisfied with all other facilities at the shelter. "Beggars are not choosers," Sharma says with a smile.

However, a group of Sadhvis from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district, who have recently started visiting a night shelter near Old Delhi railway station, say they are more than happy with the facilities. "There is a geyser at this Rain Basera. We can't afford a geyser back home," says Nirmala Devi, 70. "We visit temples across the city during the day and come to this Rain Basera to sleep in the night," she added.

Meanwhile, the caretakers of these night shelters are having a tough time. "Mainly drunkards come to these night shelters and they create scenes every day. They fight with us and abuse us. But that's our job to put them to sleep every night even as we have sleepless nights," said Rajesh Kumar, caretaker of a night shelter near Old Delhi railway station.

NOT AN EASY TASK

• The caretakers are having a tough time manning these night shelters on an everyday basis.
   
• “Mainly drunkards come to these night shelters and they create scenes every day. They fight with us and abuse us. But that’s our job to put them to sleep every night even as we have sleepless nights,” said Rajesh Kumar, caretaker of a night shelter in old Delhi