Shocking alleged 42 deaths during the heavy cold in the first week of January

There is a shocking and extremely anguishing news for Delhites. From 1st January to 7th January the capital of the country witnessed 42 deaths DUE to cold and chilly weather with Delhi experiencing the coldest night in several years on last Thursday, the 4th of January i.e. 3.7 degrees celcius.

This is infact a very distressing and disturbing news as its primarily the sole responsibility of the governments of the state and the centre and its concerned social welfare, health and police departments to conduct night checks and find poor and hapless people shivering in excessive cold undr critical circumstances to ensure that they are adequately housed or provided shelter in Rain Baseras and other facilities with proper and timely medical aid.

Delhi despite being the capital of the largest democracy of the world should be fully equipped with facilities like housing projects, foodstuffs, forthright medical care, warm clothings and financial help etc to ensure that the wandering poor, hapless and vegabounds are adequately taken care of, as providing the physical safety and well being during acute winters and summers is primarily the state’s responsibility.

After all the state’s and centre’s social welfare and health departments are provided with enough budget to ensure that the health related safety and security of these street people, the poor women, hapless children and the senior citizens is materialised at all costs.

The above statistics has been released by an NGO based on the figures of MHA as and are therefore fully reliable and authentic. This is indeed a sorry state of affairs on the part of the departments concerned and those at the helm of the political dispensation of the state.

In Delhi one can conveniently see such poor people in tatters under the Metro sheds, at the international bus terminus vicinity, near Nigam Bodh Ghats, outside every temple of Delhi, near Railway stations, platforms, under bridges, construction projects and even near Yamuna river banks. Just imagine when people living inside houses are facing the extremely chilly cold weather what would be the fate of those myriad numbers of poor and hapless children, women and old aged who have no clothes to wear and blankets to cover themselves during these hazardous winter nights in the open.

These 42 deaths due to the cold in Delhi is an unambiguous indication as to how faulty, negiligent, careless and complacent is our system towards these most vulnerable lot. These most unfortunate deaths therefore warrant an impartial enquiry into the whole episode to fix responsibility on the authorities and officers’ concerned who are directly or indirectly responsible for these horrific deaths due to cold weather during the last six days from 1st to 6th January. These deaths also put a huge question mark on the integrity of those NGOs who seek government funds but do little or neglible in such situations and matters. What do you say friends?
SUNIL NEGI