As the temperature in India seems to be on a constant rise, the ones to be truly hit with the catastrophe are the poor and vulnerable who neither have a roof over their heads nor the means to battle the scorching heat. 

Under the government-controlled Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, there are 263 shelters for the homeless of which only 21 cater to women. But even then they are having a tough time beating the rising temperature.

“We have two [air] coolers in each cabin and also exhaust fans but the steel cabins become so hot during the day that nothing works here and the heat remains trapped inside at night. We get cold water either from the Gurudwara or the water dispenser. That’s all. It’s enough that I have a roof over my head,” said Jyoti Banal. She lives in one of the shelters near the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara in the center of Delhi.

Image source

She recently got a job at a call center but chose to live in the homeless shelter because her salary is still very limited.

An NGO Humana People to People India manages the homeless shelter and the caretaker, Monika Sharma, has explained how they have done everything in their power to help the homeless women. “We provide women with oral rehydration whenever they complain of heat stroke as most of these women leave the shelter in the day to eke out a livelihood. We have a fully functional clinic for any emergency and take them to the nearest hospital,” said Sharma.

But these cabins turn into furnaces in the summer, with acute water shortage in the toilets and the bathrooms. As the NGOs are powerless due to low finances, even the government has done nothing to improve the situation.

“We are dependent on the food and alms that we get from devotees at the temple and don’t dare ask for anything more at the shelter as we have no place to live. It’s terribly hot in the cabins and [they are] infested with rats but we can’t say anything to the managers,” said Sarita, another woman living in of the shelters in Delhi.

H/T: The Third Pole