As Delhi and other northern states of India comes under the grip of cold wave making it an annual phenomenon, vast majority of the homeless in Delhi are spending the night in street, footpath and under flyovers leading to rise in death tolls due to this. In Delhi, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) opened 64 permanent and 84 temporary night shelter for the homeless people since 2010, out of which only 19 temporary are functional this year. Some of these shelters are being managed through NGOs. There are about 60,000 homeless people living in Delhi and only around 12,000 homeless people are accommodated in these night shelter rendering the other homeless people to spend the night outside in the cold.

A night shelter means a proper place with a bare minimum facility to fight the cold, however due to lack of coordination, awareness about the night shelter among the homeless people, safety and security inside the night shelter and poor sanitation facilities at the night shelter; majority of the homeless people are not willing

to stay at night shelter. The Bonfire and use of sedatives (more use among children) is the only measure they have to survive the severe winter in Delhi.

According to a homeless in Delhi, "We don't want to move into the night shelters as they have poor infrastructure and abysmal hygiene conditions. Drug addicts and criminals abound in those places. We fear for our safety".

Supreme Court has directed all states and Union territories to ensure that no homeless remains shelter less and dies this winter due to lack of night shelter and States have started taking actions but we are yet to see its full implementation.

All the stakeholders including Government, INGOs and NGOs need to come together to create awareness and ensure that there are enough functional and safe permanent and temporary shelters so that no one is left to sleep on pavements