SURAT: Surat Municipal Corporation ( SMC ) under the Central Government’s National Urban Livelihoods Mission ( NULM ) is in the process of constructing seven shelters for urban homeless (SUH) in the city.Centre and state government are giving 100 per cent capital grant for the project, with five expected to be ready by the year-end. The shelter will provide dormitory type accommodation, with each person getting 50 square feet of space there. A homeless person will have to pay maximum of 10 per cent of his income as rent for living in a shelter for urban homeless. SMC will provide bunk beds, toilet blocks, kitchen and dining rooms in the shelters for urban homeless where canteens of NGOs will provide nutritious food at cheap rates to those living there.Under the Central Government norms, there should be a shelter per one lakh of people in an urban space. Thus, Surat must have at least 50 shelters for urban homeless. SMC will build more shelters depending on the need and demand once the seven have been built.Surat is one of the major cities of the country having maximum number of migrant labourers, who are mostly employed in textile and construction sectors. A labourer earns Rs300 per day and is compelled to build huts either on an open ground or roadside.“The basic aim of NULM is to provide shelter to labourers. Centre and state government will give 60 and 40 per cent grant, respectively to build a shelter for urban homeless in the city,” said Rajesh Jariwala, executive engineer, SMC.He said seven shelters will have a capacity to accommodate 2,038 people and will be built at a cost of Rs38.15 crore. Tenders have been issued to build two more, together having a capacity for 450 people. They will incur an expenditure of Rs10.01 crore on construction.“A high-powered committee under the chairmanship of principal secretary to Gujarat Government is overseeing the project. Five shelters for urban homeless is expected to be ready by the year-end,” a SMC officer said.SMC officials said this project will provide a great deal of help in freeing public places of encroachments and making the city slum-free by 2022.

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