Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS) Sharply rebuking the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and pointing to the “chilling winter”, the Delhi High Court Thursday directed the civic body to provide shelter to those whose night refuge had been demolished as part of a beautification drive.
“Provide them shelter at the earliest. At least you (MCD) should not have taken this step in this chilling winter on humanitarian grounds,” a division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said while asking the MCD to explore the possibility of shifting them to other shelter homes.

The MCD submitted that strict action was taken as these people had encroached on land and did not vacate the place despite several warnings.

The court had Wednesday pulled up the MCD for demolishing the temporary night shelter in west Delhi’s Pusa Road ahead of the Commonwealth Games without providing alternative accommodation and said it was the civic body’s responsibility to protect people.

“Commonwealth Games is after 10 months, so for city’s beautification you (MCD) will throw out people in chilling winter like this?” the bench said.

“Is this the way you are planning the beautification drive in the capital?” the bench added.

The court was hearing a suo motu case on a newspaper report highlighting the plight of people rendered homeless after MCD demolished the structure.

The temporary night shelter was removed by the MCD Dec 22 as part of the beautification drive for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. As the temperatures in the city dipped and a bone chilling cold set in, the move impacted the many homeless who used to take refuge in the shelter.

Delhi has 40 night shelters - 25 run by the MCD and 15 temporary structures run by the Delhi government - for roughly 100,000 homeless people.