People sleeping on footpaths, under flyovers, on foot over bridges and other public places will be picked up and shifted to the proposed night shelters. The plan is to prepare a profile of such people with regard to where they have originally come from, what kind of skills they could be trained with and thereafter, train them or send them back to their native places. If the homeless are children, they will be sent to bridge camps where they can be educated.

The GHMC had earlier launched a similar programme whereby beggars would be gathered and shifted to rehabilitation homes. However, the GHMC failed in its attempt and the project was abandoned mid-way.

Officials said the night shelters project is being taken up following the commitment given by the state government to the Supreme Court that Hyderabad will have night shelters just like Delhi. The additional commissioner of the GHMC, Ms G.D. Priyadarshini, said the night shelters project would be executed under a public, private partnership mode. The civic body is writing letters to corporate houses seeking their support for the project by adopting shelter homes.

“Around 40 community halls have been identified and they will be converted into night shelters. Depending upon the survey and number of homeless people in the city, more halls will be allotted for conversion into night shelters. The night shelters will start functioning in less than a week from now,” she said.

The GHMC commissioner, Dr Sameer Sharma, said the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences has agreed to support the project.