8% of India’s homeless live in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: More than 8 per cent of the country’s homeless people live in Andhra Pradesh, making it the fifth in the list of states with most number of homeless.

The proportion of homeless to that of the total population, in the state is also higher when compared to the three other South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The situation though is worse for Telangana, which is home to about 55 per cent of the undivided state’s homeless population, although its population is significantly lesser. Also, about 26 per cent of the state’s homeless live in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy.

The figures were recently released by the Census of India for the year 2011. About 0.2 per cent of the total population of the state was homeless, according to Census figures of 2011.

This is worse than the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which have about 0.1 per cent of their populations lacking shelter. Kerala is far better with only a fraction of population being homeless.

The government to be formed in Telangana will have a tough task on its hand as almost half of the new state’s homeless live in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy. According to the Census, about 18,000 homeless people live in the two districts.

Statistics also suggest that the proportion of homeless population in the state has not reduced over the last decade or so with their numbers growing along with the population. Andhra Pradesh currently has about 1,45,211 homeless people.