Delhi’s Old Buses as Poor People’s Winter Shelters

The homeless people in India’s national capital finally got a “roof” to sleep under in freezing winter nights, as the newly elected government has decided to use abandoned buses as shelters.
Delhi’s Old Buses as Poor People’s Winter Shelters
An Indian couple travel on a bicycle through dense fog in New Delhi; the city is currently experiencing winter chill. The new government has decided to convert abandoned buses into winter shelters for homeless people.(Raveendran/AFP/Getty Images)
Venus Upadhayaya
1/7/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

The homeless people in India’s national capital finally got a “roof” to sleep under in freezing winter nights, as the newly elected government has decided to use abandoned buses as shelters.

“These buses will be provided with blankets and basic amenities so that the homeless can at the least sleep properly,” said a release on the Facebook page of Aam Admi Party (AAP), the new ruling party of Delhi.

According to media reports, the AAP recently conducted a survey and found 4,018 people sleeping in open areas at 212 locations across the city. The India’s youngest political party decided to build 100 shelters to help homeless people in winter chill. Since constructing shelters will take some time, the government came up with this novel idea to provide immediate relief to the people.

A year old Aam Admi Party (the Common Man’s Party) evolved out of the veteran social activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, stunning everyone by forming the government in Delhi. Immediately after coming to power, the party has implemented many public centric policies including providing free water and electricity at half prices, thus emerging as one of the most popular political parties in India.

“AAP has always believed in low cost, innovative solutions and we will try our best to solve citizens’ problems using such solutions,” the release said. “The only resource required is the will to serve.”

Venus Upadhayaya reports on India, China and the Global South. Her traditional area of expertise is in Indian and South Asian geopolitics. Community media, sustainable development, and leadership remain her other areas of interest.
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