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Description
It’s 11 pm and the shops on the crowded streets near the Old Gurgaon Railway Station are shut. The dense winter fog has cleared due to erratic rains. A worn-out Haryana Roadways bus, with a broken yellow number plate, HR55C 2814, stands apparently abandoned near a slum cluster, amid trash, broken bottles and peanut scraps. A closer look shows the small sign on it, “rain basera (night shelter)”. Babu Lal, 45, a daily wage labourer, huddles inside in a blanket. He is among the 15 who have made the bus their home this night, since the Gurgaon civic authorities opened up night shelters in buses for the homeless a little over a month ago. Lal lives in Bhiwadi and often travels to Gurgaon for odd jobs to make a living, earning between Rs 200 and Rs 400 a day. The Millennium City, however, has little room for people like him. “With my salary, I cannot even afford a small room for a night,” he says, adding he needs to send money back home for the education of his son, who is in Class X. The Delhi High Court may have pulled up the Delhi government for not doing enough on shelter for the homeless, but in nearby Gurgaon, which followed the Capital’s example, Lal and his companions for this night are thankful for the little that has come their away. The Gurgaon administration is operating seven unused buses as night shelters, equipped with about 50 mattresses and blankets each. However, women are still wary of using the bus for fear of safety. The authorities too do not encourage them. “If they are with men of their families, they might be allowed entry, but that’s rare,” says Kumar. While there are no provisions for first aid or mobile toilets on the bus shelters yet, that may be rectified. “Authorities say these provisions will be made soon. For now, we use a Sulabh toilet near the railway platform or relieve ourselves in the open,” says Lal. The corporation has temporarily fixed a tube light inside the bus, drawing power from an electricity pole outside. It can get cold, but Kumar shrugs: “We just make sure all the windows and doors are shut.” As the temperature drops, the conversation takes a more serious note, to politics, especially the Aam Aadmi Party’s victory in Delhi.
Keywords
Migrants, Labourers, Delhi, Shelter, Homeless, wage labourers, night shelters, women, Gurgaon
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