DUSIB adds 250 shelter homes, forms rescue teams this winter

The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), the agency tasked with improving the quality of the life for the residents of slum and JJ clusters in the Capital, has formed 15 rescue teams and has established a 24x7 control room as part of its winter action plan for the homeless during the peak winter season, officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

- Alok KN Mishra

The winter action plan, which came into effect on November 15, will continue to be in place till March 15 next year.

DUSIB already runs 197 permanent shelter homes, which have a collective capacity of 17,000 people, and officials said the board is in the process of setting up 250 temporary shelter homes, which will be able to cater to around 5,000 more people.

They said these shelters equipped with durries, mattresses, bedsheets, pillows and blankets, and have a locker facility to safe keep belongings, along with electricity, drinking water, toilets, a bathing facility, a television, and hot water.

The officials said that a caretaker is available round the clock in all shelter homes, which are scattered across commercial centres and transport hubs such as Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate, and Nehru Place.