LAHORE: Mianwali resident Barak Khan is delighted at having saved PKR2000, what he would earn in three days, by staying in one of five, free temporary shelters in Lahore for travellers and the homeless.
“I am a frequent visitor to Lahore as I come every week to buy stuff for my makeshift stall in Mianwali,” he says. “The visit costs me about 2,000 rupees as the hotels in the railway station area charge at least a thousand a night and for three meals it’s not less than 800. I barely save six to eight hundred a day after 12 hours of work. I spent the night at the railway station shelter, had dinner and breakfast free of charge. I am very happy,” he told Arab News on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone for the first permanent shelter saying his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government was “committed to building a social (safety) net for our poor citizens so everyone has a shelter over their head.”
Construction of these shelters may take months, so Khan asked Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to provide food and tents for the homeless as the cold snap approaches.
“I have asked CM Punjab to set up tents for people sleeping on footpaths and provide them food until the Panah Gahs (shelters) are built, as the weather is turning increasingly cold. Peshawar and Karachi spots also being located,” Khan tweeted.
The shelters have been set up at five different places in Lahore: —Railway Station, Thokar Niaz Beg, Fruit Mandi, Badami Bagh and Bhati Gate.
But the shelters are not only for travellers. Anyone can use them for rest or food.
“We just check the ID card of the person, write his name in the register and provide him with a bed,” Ali Kashif, administrator of the Railway Station shelter, told Arab News. “We also provide the person with dinner, breakfast and lunch. It is not necessary that the visitor is from another city. Any homeless person, traveller, visiting vendor or labourer can come, stay and have food.
“Since last night, 44 people have stayed in this camp and they have been provided with a bed and food.”
“I am a labourer and work on building sites. It is the first night that I have slept peacefully on a warm bed as I use to sleep in the cold under building sites. I ate my dinner here and also breakfast. Long live Imran Khan,” said Humayoun, a labourer in the Thokar Niaz Beg area.
“It’s been a long time since a government considered the problems of the common man and made arrangements to give them relief. It is a step in the right direction to achieve the concept of a welfare state,” said Jafar Ali, a young boy visiting the shrine of Data Sahib.
The well-off also visit the shelters: they want to provide food, blankets and other necessities.
“Residents of the area have also visited the tent and asked how could they contribute,” said Adnan Ahmad, a social worker at one shelter.