Delhi’s Home and Urban Development Minister Ashish Sood on Thursday conducted a surprise inspection at five night shelters that are operational at the parking lot of Sarai Kale Khan, and found several shortcomings across the facilities.
The surprise check was prompted by complaints of corruption and mismanagement in these shelters, allegedly due to collusion between the then Aam Aadmi Party government and NGOs.
Sood, based on findings, reprimanded the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and the NGOs operating these shelters, warning them that such negligence and corruption would not be tolerated.
Sood announced that the government would conduct a probe through the vigilance department and, if necessary, the option of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation could be explored.
The minister emphasised that the government would not tolerate this corruption, which was exploiting vulnerable people who were supposed to be helped by the government.
During his visit, some residents of the shelters informed the minister that there were rumors circulating that these places could be brought down, and they would be forced to live on the streets.
However, Sood assured the residents that no such demolition would be allowed, and directed the police to take strict legal action against those spreading such rumours.
It was also found that there were no attendance registers at any of the shelters.
Following his visit, the Urban Development minister stated that the government has been receiving complaints about the management and administration of these shelters for a long time.
These complaints alleged that the previous government had been involved in large-scale corruption and scams in these shelters in collusion with the NGOs.
It has also been alleged that the NGOs involved in running these shelters were exploiting poor labourers who were residing in these shelters by paying them Rs 5,000 to 6,000 per month for cleaning and other tasks, and on the other hand, lakhs of rupees were being claimed from the government for these services.
He reiterated that the government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, is committed to providing shelter and basic amenities to all homeless people in the national capital, and assured regular inspection of these places to ensure that the facilities provided were up to standard.
He directed agencies concerned, operating these shelters, to meet all quality standards, warning that strict action would be taken if these standards were not met.