Night shelters : Government wakes up
Saturday, 20 November 2010 10:30
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The New Indian Express 20.11.2010
Night shelters : Government wakes up
BHUBANESWAR: The Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department has woken up to a Supreme Court directive to set up night shelters for homeless in three urban centres and embarked on a survey.
Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri civic bodies have been asked to conduct a comprehensive study to identify homeless people living there by November 30.
The Supreme Court, hearing a case between PUCL and Government of India, had directed that all homeless people leaving without a shelter in the cities with a population of five lakh and more each need to be accommodated in night shelters.
At least one night shelter should be established for a population of one lakh, the apex court suggested.
Accordingly, a commission appointed by the SC fixed that Bhubaneswar should have seven night shelters, Cuttack have three and Puri at least two.
However, when the status was reviewed by the SC and the H&UD Department submitted its affidavit, the court was not satisfied with the steps. Another affidavit in this regard is slated to be filed by November 22.
To put up a better show before the SC, the Department seems to have gone into overdrive to complete the survey by this month-end.
It has directed the three civic bodies to ensure that survey teams take note of the places inhabited by the homeless.
The places include roadsides, pavements, construction sites, staircases of markets, arcades, temples, railway platforms and bus stops.
The three bodies have been asked to identify spaces for construction of the night shelters and seek alienation of land needed for such facilities.
Until the land is identified and shelters are constructed, the local bodies must point out community centres and other vacant government buildings to accommodate the homeless during the survey as an interim measure.
When the Department submitted in its affidavit that Kalyan Mandaps were being utilised for the purpose, it did not go down well with the court.
Last Updated on Saturday, 20 November 2010 10:37
GHMC project for beggars a failure
Tuesday, 02 November 2010 05:43
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The Deccan Chronicle 02.11.2010 GHMC project for beggars a failure
Nov 1: Three years after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation launched a beggar rehabilitation project, there is not a single beggar living in the rehabilitation homes set up by the corporation. The project has flopped, the main reason being lack of commitment on the part of the authorities concerned to continue with the project.
Officials claim that beggar rehabilitation is a continuous process; some blame citizens for not allowing beggar rehabilitation homes in their colonies. According to a survey conducted six years ago by the Hyderabad District Collectorate in association with an NGO, the Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare, there were about 10,000 beggars in the erstwhile MCH area (the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad) and their combined earnings through begging were pegged at a whopping `15 crore per annum.
There are five beggar rehabilitation homes run by the GHMC, one each in East, West, Central, North and South zone, but not a single beggar stays there, although officials claim that some of the beggars who do not have shelter, come and sleep here.
The beggar rehabilitation project envisaged shifting beggars to the GHMC-run homes and providing them with training in sewing and other vocations to help them stand on their own feet. “It is a social problem. We gave them counselling after they were brought to the homes. But they have been getting back to the streets to resume their old earning activities. In one case, one of the shelter homes was attacked by beggars who took away their children from the home,” a senior GHMC official said.
It is not easy to rehabilitate beggars, but officials insist the project is still continuing. Employees of GHMC and the Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare, an NGO, were beaten up by beggars when they tried to take child beggars from the Dilsukhnagar area. Such resistance from the beggars themselves makes the project difficult to implement.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 November 2010 05:45
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Special kids get NMC helping hand
Friday, 29 October 2010 10:33
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The Times of India 29.10.2010
Special kids get NMC helping hand
Nagpur: For the first time, the education department of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has started a unique residential bridge course for special children. Giving details, co-ordinator Abhijit Raut explained, "Special children are divided in three categories- severe, moderate and those on the border-line. Those who fall in to severe category including orthopaedic cases cannot be included in normal schools as they need individual attention and have to be accompanied by parents or guardians in some cases. The moderate or borderline cases can be included in schools run by the government with help and proper guidance."
With this aim in mind, NMC has started the bridge course referred as RBC to help bring moderate and borderline cases at par with normal students. Officials say such a course would boost their confidence, help them compete with normal students and make up for the lacunae, if any. Some 90 special students have been included in this first residential bridge course, the first phase of which will conclude on October 31. The second phase will resume after a short break for Diwali.
The 90-day course is being run at three centres- Katol Road, Hingna and Kuhi. "The response has been very good. Special educators from the Inclusive Education for Disabled (IED) department are enrolled for the course and are imparting skills to the students to make up for the loss in the curriculum and help them catch up with the rest," informed another NMC official.
The NMC has recruited 30 teachers exclusively for children with special needs this year. NMC's education department has earmarked Rs 35 lakh for its IED programme under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. "Special education refers to the education of mentally and physically challenged children. It is specially designed instruction for students with exceptional learning needs, to help them realise their potential and capabilities. All children have a right to be educated, regardless of any disability they suffer from," Raut added.
After starting a special school for children living on railway platforms, NMC has also started schools for rag pickers and street children living in Bhandewadi dumping yard and other places in the city. Under the ambitious Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) project, the civic body, in collaboration with Church of North India's Social Service Institute (CNI-SSI) will impart education as well as vocational training to street children.
Ward reservation leaves netas fuming
Tuesday, 26 October 2010 09:35
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The Times of India 26.10.2010
Ward reservation leaves netas fuming
GURGAON: On Monday, the deputy commissioners office saw soaring tempers as people argued about matters relating to the seat reservation for the schedule caste, schedule tribe, backward classes and women candidates.
The meeting was attended by members of various political parties and few of those from some resident welfare associations. The contentious issue was the selection of six wards for SC/ST and two for backward classes, out of the 35 wards notified by the municipal corporation of Gurgaon.
Quite expectedly, almost all the political parties wanted their wards to be reserved for SC/ST candidates and started bickering on the matter. The decision to reserve particular wards for SC/ST candidates was already taken by an ad-hoc committee, headed by the deputy commissioner Rajinder Kataria.
The ten wards reserved for women candidates were selected in the presence of all members, in a draw of lots. But unlike the wards for SC/STs, politicos seemed hardly bothered about the the reservation of women candidates, and draw went off quite peacefully.
Talking on the matter, Gopi Chand Gehlot, head of Indian National Lok Dal district and former Haryana assembly deputy speaker, said, We strongly object to the way the administration has taken the decision on reserving wards for SC/ST candidates all by themselves. There are quite a few places like Palam Vihar where the ST/SC population is lessThere is no transparency in the way they have reserved the wards.
However, the deputy commissioner rejected the allegation.
If we wanted we could have had made the decision and held the draw inside a closed door meeting. The only reason why we invited the political parties and other resident welfare associations is because we wanted to make the entire process transparent, said Kataria.
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