Rs 100 fee for the only night shelter expensive for the poor
Jagran correspondent, Jammu. Due to the fee being fixed at Rs 100 for the only night shelter built in Jammu, the lives of destitute and poor people are suffering on the streets of the city in this harsh cold. There is only night shelter in Boria area of Bahufort in Jammu, which has dormitory halls.
There is a fixed fee of Rs 100 per night for staying here. For this reason, poor and helpless people sleeping on the footpaths hesitate to go there and sleep on the footpaths themselves.
people sleeping on the sidewalk at night
No effective steps are taken by the administration or the police to pick them up from the footpaths and keep them at such places. Therefore, in the middle of winter, at some places, some people are seen sleeping on the footpaths at night. Although these people are poor and helpless. They survive by doing small jobs and begging. In such a situation, both these Jammu places are experiencing bone-chilling cold. Even standing outside at night seems difficult.
Even in such a situation, many people are forced to sleep in open places, risking their lives. These people are raising questions on the administrative system by sleeping covered with blankets near Jammu Railway Station, Bus Stand, under the flyover, Gandhinagar and some public places. The night shelter in Boria area was built in the year 2018. About two crore rupees were spent on its construction. It was constructed by Jammu Development Authority. Later it was handed over to Jammu Municipal Corporation. Now it works under the supervision of the corporation. Four employees of the corporation look after the work including cooking food for the people living here.
No arrangement for bonfire for destitute people
In Jammu, no arrangement is made by the administration or the Municipal Corporation to light bonfires to protect the people who are forced to sleep on the footpaths from the cold. When someone dies of cold on the footpath, the police and administration become active and those sleeping on the footpath are chased away. Some are sent to night shelters
But no one likes to live there. The reason is that under the rules of night shelter, one has to pay Rs 100 to spend the night here. Which are more in a city like Jammu. According to the corporation, such people are considered suspicious in view of the terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore such a system does not exist here.