New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) The Delhi BJP on Tuesday blamed the AAP-led city government for the death of more than 100 homeless people in biting cold with its “criminal negligence” in setting up enough shelter homes.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva cited an NGO’s report to claim that on average nine homeless people died of cold in the month of January.
The Aam Aadmi Party in a statement parried the charge saying the BJP made similar allegations earlier, but later it came to light that the data was being extracted from Delhi Police’s zipnet website in which figures of unidentified dead bodies and death in road accidents are included.
“Unfortunately, claims were made that those people died due to cold. No post mortem report has been attached or referred. Until the cause of death is conclusively proven, it is highly inappropriate to assert that they succumbed to homelessness,” the AAP said.
Sachdeva said data came from NGO Centre for Holistic Development, which said nine people on average died every day in the city of cold this month.
“It’s shocking to note that on average every day nine persons died due to cold on Delhi roads under open sky in January 2024 due to criminal negligence of Arvind Kejriwal government,” Sachdeva alleged.
These deaths, 180 in total, establish that people are forced to sleep in the open due to lack of shelter homes or being denied entry there, he charged.
Sachdeva said that the party had last December urged the government to ensure that homeless people do not have to sleep on the roadside and arrange proper shelter homes for them.
Unfortunately Delhi government’s nodal body Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has “totally failed” in its duty of providing shelter homes, he said.
The AAP said that Urban Development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has issued written instructions to his department to promptly arrange for night shelters wherever needed.
The situation in Delhi should be compared with the governments of the neighbouring states. The current status of night shelters in Gurugram and Noida is not hidden from anyone, said the AAP. PTI VIT VN VN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.