Cold waves kill hundreds in the plains
Monday - January 13, 2020 1:45 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
WTN- This year the cold has been searing in January and this has taken a heavy toll on the poor and the homeless. Hundreds of people have lost their lives across the northern plains in last one month. This is not particularly about this winter. This year it may be a bit more chilly then other years, but deaths due to cold do happen, and in plenty, year on year. In states like UP and Bihar, the most populated states of the country, the number of deaths cross hundreds every year.
It is surprising that hunger deaths or hospital deaths make big news but deaths due to cold has become so passé that no one even cares. This is directly a failure of the local administrations and state governments that leave people dying out on the mercy of the elements. There is no social safety cover or protection shield for the poor and the homeless so that they can brave extreme weather.
This is a violation of human rights and devaluation of human dignity, though it takes little to provide clothes and shelter to the needy. Yes, there are government measures like shelter homes, bonfires etc. in places, but they are often not maintained and sustained well. The services are erratic as there is little accountability and those in charge of managing these affairs are not questioned or held responsible for their lapses.
The facilities are few and far between that are not commensurate with the largescale needs. The need is to open many more night shelters and lit fires at many more places so that people are kept warm across the length and breath of the cities. Many a times the availability of the facilities is not propagated and spread and a large section of the destitute remain oblivious of their location.
It is a sad reality in the country that lakhs of people still have to spend their nights on the footpaths, culverts, pavements and railway stations and bus stands of cities. Any inclement weather makes such living a torturous proposition but most have no place to go. If governments are attentive to people’s needs, they can easily provide them a basic roof over their head so that their survival is not staked. It must be made legally binding on civic bodies and governments to ensure safe life to human beings in rough weather.
It doesn’t need much to set up such shelters, especially it this era of easy access to technology, but as long as there is lack of honesty and vision to guide governance, and a professional and efficient work culture to pursue those visions, such measures will hardly be forthcoming or effective in addressing people’s concerns. Human resources are our precious assets and we simply cannot let them perish due to our self-centredness and ignorance of the realities around us. We live in society and there are social responsibilities we must at least talk of even if we cannot honour. Is anybody listening? - Window To News
