The real estate sector in the city is booming with construction of houses going on everywhere. Despite this, the number of homeless continues to grow. If they are not provided shelters early, the problem would go out of control, viewed speakers at the release of a homeless study report, ‘City Makers in Bhubaneswar’. here on Friday.
The ActionAid with its ally CCWD (Centre for Women and Children Development) undertook the study on the living conditions of the homeless in the capital city by mobilising more than 50 volunteers from different slums and educational institutions of the city.
While the 2011 Census shows that the city had 1,245 homeless people, the study done by the ActionAid India now revealed that the number is 6,559 now.
Despite the problem growing faster, the city has just six functional night shelters with a capacity of less than 400 people.
The ActionAid and other studies have termed the homeless populations as 'Citymakers' as majority of them work as construction workers. Thus the term ‘Citymaker’ gives them more dignity to homeless population which recognises their role in the city apart from being citizens of the city, said the report.
The ActionAid and CCWD conducted studies on their living conditions and recommended suitable action to enable them to live a life of dignity.
The study found that the highest concentration of homeless individuals is found at places, where employment opportunities are available, like temples, shopping complexes, railway stations, bus stand, cinema halls and hospitals.
As per the study 79 per cent of male contributes the homeless population and 21 per cent are female in which 41 per cent are STs and SCs and 41 per cent are OBCs. About 93 per cent are migrated from various districts within Odisha and the rest came from states like Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The study shows that construction work was the most common form of economic activity in the survey, representing 33 per cent of the sample population. Begging is the next most common (28%) way of earning living, followed by rag picking, vending/hawking goods and domestic work.
The study also pointed out that 0.58 per cent of the homeless surveyed stayed in the night shelters and most people sleeping on the pavements face difficulties in the form of bad weather, police and local goons.
This study recommended to the State Government to bring out a comprehensive policy for the homeless and urban poor. Apart from shelters, homeless population need access to Government programmes on pension, ration card, education, health, livelihood and employment guarantee programmes like MGNREGA to come out of the cycle of poverty.
A homeless person, Aurobinda said, “I have been taking shelter in my rickshaw under a tree for 50 years and yet we didn’t get any help by the State Government nor by any means.”
Another homeless Meru Mahapatra, a physically challenged person, said, “I use to move to different temple of the city to get some food and a rooftop for shelter at night.”