Homeless, destitute removed for PM visit

VISHAKHAPATNAM: Authorities in Visakhapatnam shifted 79 homeless destitute, 12 of them women, from roadsides to five night shelters run by NGOs affiliated to the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) on Friday in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting on Saturday.

Staff of GVMC’s Urban Community Development (UCD) department scouted the five-kilometre stretch of road from Convent Junction at the railway station to Andhra University. They picked up the destitute living alongside the road and moved them to three night shelters in Dwarakanagar and two in Maharanipeta and Bhupesh Nagar.

Addresses of two of the destitute were traced and they were handed over to their families. Seven of the total 79 have been admitted to Government Hospital for Mental Care in Peda Waltair.

A UCD official told Deccan Chronicle that as the entire stretch of road is under a security cordon, the road dwellers had to be moved to a safer place. “We won't bring them back. They will remain at the night shelters to which they have been shifted,” the official maintained.

Concerned citizen Akkapeddi Srivalli said such citizens should be protected on a regular basis and not only during VVIP movements.