BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa Government wants to study how states are going about establishment of night shelters for homeless people as per the Supreme Court directive.The State Government will come up with night shelters in three cities - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri through urban local bodies (ULBs). At least 15 night shelters have been proposed in the three cities including seven in the Capital.The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had started the operation but on a makeshift basis and it now wants to switch to a permanent arrangement.The Urban Development Department, which took stock of the matter here on Friday, prescribed that ULBs must go in for a permanent solution instead of running it on a temporary basis. The Supreme Court advocate will be consulted in finding out about how other states have executed it.The BMC officials pointed out that the two community centres, which doubled as night shelters in the City, are not drawing in the homeless people because of the summer days. “In most cases, the homeless are daily-wagers and the two community centres are at a distance from their places of work. Most prefer to stay close to their workplace because of convenience of transportation,” sources said.Since a permanent solution would be to come up with dedicated buildings, the BMC has written to the General Administration Department for land. The Urban Development (UD) Department will also take up the issue with chief secretary in this connection, sources said. Each night shelter would require about 2,000 sq ft area and horizontal structures can help accommodate the homeless and the facilities they need on a daily basis.A major issue that cropped up during the meeting was funding support to run the night shelters since the homeless would need food as well as certain facilities as pointed out by the SC.The BMC has found a way out by trying to rope in the services of NGOs. It has floated an expression of interest so that an organisation can be put in charge of operation and maintenance. Secretary, UD Department, Saurav Garg has also asked Cuttack and Puri to take a leaf out of BMC’s book in this matter.Since management of the night shelters would necessitate funds, Garg has asked his department to explore possibilities of linking the provisions to welfare schemes such as Antyodaya Yojana. Both Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs as well as Women and Child Development departments would soon be consulted on this.
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