Setting up 13 new shelters for the homeless children: BMC

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that it was in the process of setting up 13 new shelters for homeless children in the city. The shelters are likely to accommodate 500 children.

A Bench of Justice A S Oka and Justice C V Bhadang were hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the NGO Homeless Collective. The senior counsel appearing for petitioner Gayatri Singh told the court that there are approximately 33,000 homeless children in Mumbai, according to a survey carried out by Action Aid and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

The court was further informed that under the BMC?s present sanctioned development plan, no reservation had been provided for shelters but a provision has been made in the revised DP. The HC has now directed the BMC and the petitioner to carry out a joint survey of the existing vacant sites under the existing DP. Singh informed the court that there were 33 such sites in the city.The BMC has been granted two weeks to file an affidavit on compliance carried out by them. The state government has also been directed to take steps for release of funds for construction of night shelters and besides identifying if vacant plots are available with other public authorities.

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