Delhi Shelter Board Chief Transferred Over Lack Of Toilets In Night Shelters

Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has transferred Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) CEO K Mahesh and is "contemplating further action" against him for alleged dereliction of duty.

The move comes after the lieutenant governor on December 23 paid a surprise visit to the shelter homes at ISBT and found lack of accommodation and toilet facilities there.

Mahesh has been moved to Union Territory Civil Services as special director, a statement from LG office said on Tuesday.

"Even as Garima Gupta, Secretary (Social Welfare), was given charge of DUSIB, further action is contemplated against Mahesh. While all the shelter homes at ISBT and Hanuman Mandir area had a total capacity of only about 600 beds, there were thousands who were forced to sleep on the pavements in bitter cold," the statement said.

The LG said that K Mahesh was tasked with the responsibility of providing adequate temporary toilet facilities to the slum dwellers at Jailorwala Bagh and that, he failed to provide the facilities even after six months.

Last week, Saxena had paid a surprise visit to 'Rain Baseras' (night shelters) at ISBT and the adjacent Hanuman Mandir area and took stock of the arrangements and amenities at these shelters. He had claimed that there is lack of sanitation and toilets in the shelter homes, "forcing people to defecate in open".

"While about 5,000 homeless people inhabited the area, the total capacity of night shelters at the sites was only 600. Apart from this, even as the shelters provided food only to occupants registered with them, there were thousands who were dependent upon charity for the same," a statement from LG office had said on December 24.

According to the statement, there is lack of cleanliness at the shelter homes at ISBT and the adjacent Hanuman Mandir area due to disposal of paper, plastic plates and cups in the open.

"Thousands are forced to defecate in the open in the national capital, even as remote areas in the country were achieving the goal of open defecation-free India. This, apart from causing direct pollution to flow into an already polluted Yamuna, was also depriving poor people of basic personal dignity and exposing them to various health hazards," the statement said.

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