The Greater Chennai Corporation has launched a drive to rescue homeless persons to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among them. The city has 9,087 homeless people.
On Tuesday, the Corporation took to social media to announce its initiative. Officials said they rescued 24 homeless persons — 20 men and four women — from the MGR-Chennai Central Railway Station and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Monday and took them to an interim shelter on Wall Tax Road.
Eight of the rescued persons, including a woman, are aged above 60.
Schools prepared
The interim shelter had been developed on the premises of a Corporation school in Royapuram zone. Many of the 281 Corporation schools have been prepared for housing homeless residents during the pandemic.
“We have given them nutritious food, zinc supplements and kabasura kudineer. On Wednesday, we will screen them for COVID-19. Food, shelter and medical care will be provided to all homeless persons free of cost,” said an official.
Most of those rescued on Monday spoke Tamil. Scared, some of them requested the officials to let them remain on the pavement and on the hospital premises. But officials explained to them the risk of infection.
The city has 51 shelters for the homeless, and 1,051 people are sheltered in them free of cost.
Each shelter can accommodate 50 persons. Owing to the need for physical distancing, the civic body has reduced the number of inmates and identified more buildings to accommodate homeless people.
“We will rehabilitate all the homeless people. We have planned to reunite the homeless people with their families. So far, we have rehabilitated 2,369 people. At least, 3,872 people have been restored to their families. Many of them are employed,” said an official. The civic body has arranged rental accommodation for the homeless people after getting them jobs.
The Corporation will screen all of them for COVID-19 and provide treatment this week. But manpower remains a challenge. The civic body is planning to get support from NGOs. A few NGO representatives have given suggestions to the Corporation on containment measures.
