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In Pictures: Delhi’s homeless battle cold

With worst winter in over decade, thousands of people in India’s capital struggle to get shelter in freezing conditions.

Bare foot children group around a fire to keep warm. About 900 people, including about 500 children, have been left without shelter after their shanties were demolished by authorities in north east Delhi.
By Rajan Zaveri
Published On 10 Jan 2014

The statistics that this is the most severe winter in 18 years holds no warmth for more than 100,000 homeless people, who have struggled to find place under the roof, particularly as night shelters in Delhi are in short supply.

Both the government and non-profit authorities struggle to offer shelter, but there is always too less for too many people in distress.

Seventy five-year-old Mohammad Rafik and his wife have been left homeless in the harsh winter after authorities used bulldozers to demolish their homes a day after Christmas near the Mansarovar Park Metro line in north east Delhi.

The aged couple, along with 175 other families, has nowhere to go after their shanties were cleared early in the morning by the railway authorities even as the Indian capital was witnessing a bitter cold.

About 900 people, including about 500 children, have been trying to keep warm as temperatures have hit as low as 1.2 degrees Celsius. There have been confirmed reports of at least 2 dead in Delhi so far due to cold wave.

Rafik is crippled and lies in the sooty dust with his wife next to a smouldering fire lit by pieces of plastic.

The newly elected Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has called to stop all demolitions and has promised to provide more shelters for the homeless.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has offered to replace the temporary tent shelters with porta cabins and also set up 45 more shelters.

Delhi has roughly only 180 night shelters, which essentially fulfils the bare minimum number requirement of one shelter per 100,000 population.

In March last year, a proposal was put forward for vertical housing for slum dwellers, but there hasn’t been momentum on that since.

Hundreds of slums in Delhi have been cleared or resettled to outskirts of the city in the past to make way for infrastructure and beautification projects.

And for the homeless, winter only makes a hard life harsher.

An Indian child is seen in a temporary shelter during a cold winter morning in Delhi. The winter takes a heavy toll each year around northern India, as poverty forces many homeless people to live outdoors.
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An Indian daily worker sleeps in an open area during a cold winter morning in Delhi.
A family sits quietly by the fire waiting for the blanket distribution as temperatures have hit as low as 1.2 degrees Celsius.
Two sisters wait outside a blanket distribution centre after their shanty was demolished.
Seventy-five year old Mohammad Rafik and his elderly wife sit in the ground next to a smouldering fire lit by pieces of plastic.
Elderly wife of Mohammad Rafik sits in the open amid severe cold.
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People lit fire to keep themselves warm after their shacks under Mansarovar Park Metro line in north east Delhi were destroyed.
A woman burns what she can to keep herself warm.
The crowd jostles to grab blankets being donated by aid groups.
A young boy smiles after getting blanket.
A wife who has lost her husband sits with her children at a shelter.
A slum that was demolished the day after Christmas last month being rebuilt at Mansarovar Park Metro line in north east Delhi.
Children playing in open even as temperatures have dipped in Delhi.
A child poses in front of his family’s half-constructed jhuggi, Hindi word for shack.
A girl helps rebuild her hut after being donated bamboo by a local political party.
A man tries to rebuild his hut after it was demolished by authorities.