Self-quarantine luxury we can't afford: Homeless
March 27, 2020 13:13
"Self-quarantining ourselves is a luxury homeless like us cannot afford," believes 68-year-old Rupa who has been living on the streets of Delhi-NCR for as long as she can remember.
Rupa, currently living near a Noida metro station, says she does not understand everything happening around her -- whether it is empty roads or closure of most shops -- but what she does realise is that there is a disease which has forced people to stay indoors.
"But self-quarantining ourselves is a luxury homeless like us cannot afford," she said. Asked if she worries about being infected with the virus, Rupa casually replies that she has seen worse and for her it is nothing more than a flu.
"Getting food is a major concern for me not this (coronavirus)," she said. "I went to a shelter home but I got scared that I will catch some other disease there," said Rupa who refused to give details of the shelter home where she was taken.
At some distance, Ghanshyam, another homeless in his late 40s, explains how procuring food has been the biggest challenge for him in the past few days. "My worry is not that of the disease but of getting food. All the hotels and restaurants from where I used to eat have been shut. I used to beg but now there is no one to give me alms too," he said.
India is under the biggest lockdown in its history with all 1.3 billion people asked to stay home for three weeks in view of the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed 17 lives and infected over 700 people around the country.
Ghanshyam said he has been surviving by eating food from the garbage since the lockdown was announced and is worried that if the situation persists this source too would deplete. The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday directed officials to start community kitchens to provide food to the poor and migrant labourers amid the lockdown imposed to check the spread of coronavirus but daily wager Ramesh has his doubts over its effective implementation. "How do we reach these kitchens, if we walk we will be stopped and questioned by the police. How do we reach there?" asked Ramesh who used to work as a daily wage worker at a construction factory but lost his job ever since the lockdown and has been living on the streets since last then.
According to the 2011 census, India is home to 17 lakh homeless people who also happen to be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because of their exposure. -- PTI
Image: A homeless woman cooks food on the road during the lockdown in Chennai. Photograph: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo
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