RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has prepared a plan for the establishment of a shelter home under Prime Minister Imran Khan’s poverty alleviation venture.

The civic agency has selected a vacant Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) building on Liaquat Road, in front of Government Gordon College, for the shelter home on a temporary basis. The RDA is searching for a permanent site.

More than 500 homeless people will be accommodated in the home and provided with free meals starting next month. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will visit the site and work on transforming the building into a shelter will start soon.

The shelter will be set up temporarily in RMC’s building on Liaquat Road till a permanent site is selected

A senior RDA official told Dawn that the provincial government had asked the civic body to find a site for the facility so homeless people have a shelter during the winters.

He said the RDA is conducting a survey but found no suitable place for a shelter home and then decided to use the vacant RMC building as a home for a month or two.

He said Mr Buzdar called a meeting of the district administration and RDA officials in Lahore on Monday to review arrangements and start the project in Rawalpindi on the directives of the premier.

He said the chief minister will be given a briefing about the results of the survey on homeless people in Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas. Details about how to provide accommodation and meals and the expenses of doing so will be discussed in the meeting.

“The RDA conducted a survey and found that some 100 people sleep on the footpaths in Pirwadhai and some can be seen on the footpaths in front of Benazir Bhutto Hospital and under the metro bus track at Chandni Chowk,” he said.

However, he said, it is yet to be decided if RMC will rent the building for the project or if its parent department, the Punjab Local Government Department, will give it directions to let the building be used for public interest.

The building has been vacant the last two years and the RMC planned to give it on rent to generate money and pay back a loan.

It sought help from the Punjab government to waive off the loan worth Rs240 million, which was taken out in 1992 for the construction of its offices.

RMC had borrowed Rs75 million in 1992 from the Punjab Local Government Board but it has increased to Rs240 million with interest accumulation.

RMC wanted to rent out its building adjacent to its offices in order to pay back the loan but could not interest any private company.

A senior PTI leader told Dawn there are fewer homeless people in Rawalpindi compared to other cities in Punjab and that it was decided that drug addicts will also be accommodated in the home and a plan will be made for their treatment.

He said Federal Minister National Health Services Aamer Mehmood Kiani visited Rawalpindi on Nov 5 and made a comprehensive plan for the shelter home as per the prime minister’s directions.

When contacted RDA Chairman Arif Abbasi said the RDA was working on the shelter home project as the site has been selected and the home will be made functional soon as per the federal government’s directives.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018