Srinagar, Jan 13: Kashmir has no shelter for the homeless, leaving the abandoned, mentally unstable, and impoverished out on the streets.
The Department of Social Welfare, mandated to create such shelters, has no roadmap, even as year after year, hundreds bear the vagaries of nature under the open sky.
When Greater Kashmir spoke to officials in the Department of Social Welfare, they said there was no such shelter in Kashmir.
“We had embarked on this process and put beggars in a shelter and recommended vocational training. That was a long time back. Apart from that, there is no such shelter,” said a senior official looking after the creation of various facilities under social welfare schemes.
He said the department was working on creating a shelter for the elderly.
“That could house elderly homeless, but it is not a homeless shelter,” he said.
Shelters for Urban Homeless (SUH) is a component of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).
It focuses on providing permanent shelters equipped with basic facilities to the urban homeless through respective states and union territories.
“As per SUH guidelines, convergence of various entitlements of social security, food, education, healthcare systems, provision for admission of the homeless children to government school, and skill training is provided,” the MoHUA said in Lok Sabha in August 2024.
Amidst the harsh Kashmir winters, scores of homeless people continue to sleep on pavements, bus stands, hospital corridors, and under open skies.
Many of them are mentally unstable, abandoned, or impoverished.
The dire condition of these vulnerable people exposes what activists describe as a grave humanitarian failure.
Despite sub-zero temperatures in the current season, the administration has failed to create any shelters for the homeless.
This is a responsibility mandated by the Supreme Court of India: states and union territories must establish functional shelters, especially during winter, to protect the most vulnerable.
In Srinagar and other towns, men and women can be seen wrapped in torn blankets or plastic sheets.
They huddle near closed shops or abandoned buildings in a desperate attempt to survive the cold.
Many light up small fires from trash to get a sense of warmth. A number of these suffer from mental illness and have no family support.
Many others are elderly individuals abandoned due to poverty and social neglect.
“This is not just administrative apathy, it is a moral failure, a collective failure of the government and the people,” said a social activist who provides food to many homeless on Srinagar streets. “People are freezing on the streets, and we claim everything is under control.”
Doctors often warn that prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures can be fatal.
The dangers are compounded for those suffering from malnutrition, mental illness, or substance dependence.
Cases of hypothermia, frostbite, and untreated illness among the homeless are undocumented, but real. Legal experts point out that the right to shelter is an integral part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
