By Mohit Dubey, IANS,
Lucknow : Even as thousands of homeless and poor face a bitter winter and 37 have died due to cold in Uttar Pradesh, an official scheme to provide them blankets has run into a bureaucratic wall.
Officials admit that while the government had timely cleared the Rs.15.56 crore for purchase of blankets, the process of even tendering has not yet started in the entire state.
Informed sources say the tendering began only this week and that too just in 17 districts.
To help the poor who face the winter without any ‘warm cushion’, the Samajwadi Party government released Rs.15.65 crore — at Rs.5 lakh for the blankets and Rs.1.56 lakh for bonfires for every tehsil.
A government order was issued to district magistrates to complete tendering and purchase formalities by mid-December so as to ensure that blankets were distributed to the poor and homeless before winter set in.
Officials were further asked to distribute the blankets in special camps in all districts.
While the mercury has now dipped below 4 degrees Celsius in many districts, both the bonfires and the free blankets are still missing.
Urban Development Minister Mohd Azam Khan, flooded with complaints of lack of facilities for the poor to fight the inclement weather, was forced to issue a written warning to officials to expedite the processes.
Districts where blanket purchase has not started include Moradabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bareily and Varanasi.
To avoid any corruption, it has been instructed that government-run handloom centres should be preferred over private players.
The government has also fixed the weight and size of blankets and earmarked a maximum of Rs.500 per blanket.
Instructions were also issued to identify the homeless, poor, physically challenged and old by Dec 10 and prepare a list for distribution of the blankets by Dec 15.
Shelter homes for the poor and the homeless are still a far cry.
In the state capital, of the 23 shelter homes that were to come up, only 17 have come up.
These makeshift homes have no bedding or warm clothes or blankets and the homeless are forced to spend the chilly nights on the ground.
At least 37 people have died of cold and inclement weather in the last one week as icy winds swept the state.
Many districts like Muzaffarnagar have registered a temperature of less than 3 degree Celsius. The weatherman predicts harsher winters in January.