Delhi’s shelter homes remain inadequate as temp dips to season low

As temperatures in Delhi drop to 4.2°C, homeless patients face overcrowded shelters, leaving many to sleep on the streets amid harsh winter conditions.

New Delhi

People take refuge outside a shelter home at Priyadarshni Colony, due to insufficient beds in the shelter (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

Sixty-year-old Channu Shah lay on a pavement outside AIIMS Delhi’s Gate Number 4, wrapped in a thin shawl that offered little protection against the icy air, as the minimum temperature in Delhi dropped to 4.2°C, the coldest January night in two years and the season’s lowest so far.

A tuberculosis patient from Madhya Pradesh, Shah travelled hundreds of kilometres for treatment. With his next hospital appointment a week away, he tried to set himself up at a nearby Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) night shelter, as he could not afford to rent an accommodation nor return home.

He said that he was hopeful of getting priority, as he was a senior citizen and a patient, only to be turned away. “The caretakers said it is impossible. The shelters are full. We have no choice but to sleep here,” he said, clutching a plastic sack stuffed with medical files while his wife sat beside him, trying to shield him from the biting cold.

The maximum temperature on Saturday was 20.2°C, an increase from 19.7°C recorded on Friday. The India Meteorological department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for Sunday and Monday, with forecasts suggesting possible cold wave conditions, along with moderate fog in the morning hours. The city experienced moderate to dense fog on Saturday as well, leading to more than 550 flight delays at the Delhi airport.

The air quality remained in the “very poor” category, as the 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) was clocked at 346 (very poor) at 4pm, according to data from the Central Pollution Control board (CPCB), exacerbating the winter cold.

Inadequate arrangements

Shah’s tale, while woeful, is not an isolated instance, as night after night, homeless people, daily-wage workers and patient-attendants converge at the city’s network of night shelters, seeking protection from temperatures that now routinely touch season lows.

During a spot check at nine shelters—makeshift facilities near AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital, permanent DUSIB shelters in central, west and north Delhi, and family shelters—HT found that only two were broadly adhering to all prescribed norms, offering functional toilets, drinking water, lighting, manageable occupancy and relatively clean bedding. The remaining seven showed significant deficiencies, ranging from overcrowding beyond declared capacity and lack of hot water to clogged or unusable toilets, unhygienic blankets, broken water supply systems and absence of basic electrical access.

As per the Winter Action Plan 2025–26 issued by DUSIB for the period November 15-March 15, shelters are mandated to provide mattresses, bed sheets, pillows, blankets, electricity, lighting, drinking water, toilet facilities, bathing arrangements where available, and hot water.

Also, caretakers must be present in every shift, women’s shelters must have women security guards, and no charges are to be collected for using shelter facilities, as per the rules.

The government said 197 shelter homes were operational, housing 7,092 persons, and that 200–250 additional waterproof tent shelters are to be set up during winter to accommodate rising demand.

DUSIB’s chief executive officer, Rupesh Kumar Thakur, acknowledged a shortage of shelters around AIIMS and Safdarjung, and said that the board has written to AIIMS seeking permission to set up makeshift tents on campus.

On complaints regarding the lack of hot water and sanitation in permanent shelters, he said routine inspections are conducted.

South Delhi

Nowhere is the strain more visible than around Delhi’s largest government hospitals. Pavements outside AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital transform into open-air dormitories at night. Kamal, 35, from Jharkhand, whose young son is undergoing cancer treatment, said he has spent multiple nights walking to shelters, only to be refused entry each time.

“Every shelter says there is no space. I have slept on the road for days. In this cold, you feel your bones freezing,” he said.

Caretakers at the makeshift shelters in the AIIMS-Safdarjung cluster confirmed that the demand far outstrips capacity. One caretaker near AIIMS Gate Number 5 said they deny at least 100 patients and attendants every day. “We already put two to three people on one bed. Beyond this, it is impossible,” he said.

Another caretaker admitted that even declared capacity figures have become meaningless. “If a shelter has space for 80, we accommodate 20–30 extra daily on humanitarian grounds. Most of them are patients with attendants. Still, many are left outside,” he said.

For those who do manage to secure a bed, conditions are harsh.

Ranjesh Shah, 41, from Bihar, who is undergoing treatment for a limb disability, said it took nearly 15 days of repeated enquiries to get shelter. “We push beds together so two people can sleep on one. Otherwise, more would be forced onto the roads,” he said.

Rama Devi, 48, a stomach cancer patient staying at a shelter near Yusuf Sarai, said that even inside the shelter, winter comfort is scarce. “There is no hot water. In this cold, hot water is a luxury. We pay shops to charge phones or heat water because there is no electricity point for residents,” she said.

Deepak Pawar, 40, from Muzaffarnagar, added that toilets in his shelter are often dirty or without running water. “We go to nearby public toilets, pay and bathe there,” he said.

Old Delhi

At the Priyadarshini Colony shelter near Kashmere Gate, residents complained of insufficient beds and early closure of food distribution. Hari Mahto, a factory worker from Bawana, said he travels nearly an hour each night to reach the shelter.

“By 8pm, all beds are occupied. Food gets over quickly. Winters are very hard. I cannot go to work regularly because I struggle to walk properly in this cold,” he said.

At the Chabi Ganj shelter, more than 40 men and women are housed, but there is no water supply. Residents said they had not used the washrooms for four to five days. The caretaker pointed to a broken motor and said a plumber had yet to arrive. Women staying with newborns said they walk to public toilets in nearby markets even in the middle of the night.

West Delhi

A visit to three shelters in west Delhi painted a worse picture. HT found that hot water was unavailable at two, blankets were dirty and coarse in all three, and toilets clogged and unclean in one.

At the Britannia Chowk shelter, three toilets were found blocked. While the men’s section had access to a functioning geyser, the family and women’s sections did not.

Sixteen-year-old Simran, who has lived in the shelter since birth, said, “We bathe using cold water. Sometimes, my mother heats water on a stove outside.”

At the Shivaji Park shelter, Hemraj, 53, a labourer who has stayed here for five years, said most residents avoid government-provided blankets. “They are extremely rough and cause allergies. We prefer donated blankets,” he said.

Only at the Raghubir Nagar shelter in Khyala did residents report relatively better conditions, as hot water was available and caretakers were responsive to needs; although blankets were in need of replacement.

Non-government organisations working with homeless populations point to systemic gaps.

Sunil Aklidia, director of the National Forum for Homeless Housing Rights, said the number of functional beds remains far below the need and questioned whether winter preparedness exists only on paper. “Over the past decade, the government has purchased only about 1,000 blankets under winter action plans. It raises serious questions about priorities,” he said.

As Delhi’s winter deepens, the city’s night shelters have become a fragile lifeline for thousands. For many, however, the shelter door shuts early, leaving them to face the cold streets alone. Outside AIIMS, Channu Shah settled onto the pavement for another cold night, coughing into his shawl and curling up to keep the cold at bay.

(with inputs from Aheli Das)