The night shelters, locally called 'raine baseras', are run by the state government, where the homeless can spend the cold nights.
As cold weather conditions grip the national capital, it has become an ordeal for the city's homeless to survive the chilly nights. The minimum temperature dipped to 4.7 degree Celsius, which is three degrees below the normal at this time of the year. Friday was the coldest day of the season for the city at 4 degrees Celsius.
The night shelters, locally called 'raine baseras', are run by the state government, where the homeless can spend the cold nights. "For daily wage labourers like me, renting a room is not feasible in a city like Delhi and every single day in the cold weather is the real challenge," Nusrat, who spends her nights at a shelter in Sarai Kale Khan, told news agency ANI.
Delhi has around 248 night shelters and each can accommodate around 60 people.
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The meteorological office issued a cold wave warning for the next few days. Today the skies will be clear, with moderate fog and haze. "Cold wave conditions are likely to prevail. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover at 21 and 4 degrees Celsius, respectively," the weather office said.
The maximum temperatures at most places in Punjab and Haryana hovered between 18 and 22 degrees. Amritsar and Ludhiana in Punjab recorded lows of 3.3 and 3.5 degrees, respectively.
The Haryana government has declared winter vacations in all schools across the state from January 1 to 15, 2019.
(With agency inputs)
