Cuttack, Jan. 6: The CPM today demanded immediate provision of night shelters for the homeless in Cuttack who are battling for survival in the biting cold.

“The city has no night shelters for the homeless even though the Supreme Court has directed that there must be,” CPM Cuttack unit secretary Subash Singh said in a memorandum submitted to the collector and district magistrate of Cuttack.

“It’s unfortunate that not a single night shelter has been built in Cuttack whereas seven of them were opened in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday following the Supreme Court directive,” Singh said.

The memorandum urged the collector to take immediate steps for shelters for street dwellers in view of the intense cold so that no life is lost. It also demanded distribution of blankets among them.

Highlighting the plight of the homeless, Singh said hundreds of them are taking shelter under flyovers, in railway stations, bus stands, on verandahs outside shops and on footpaths.

Most of them are migrant labourers and rickshaw-pullers who had come to the city in search of livelihood. To save themselves from the biting cold, they use jute sacks and plastic sheets and light bonfires.

“Winter is the worst period for the homeless and is life threatening, though homeless people are at risk in all seasons. The night shelters will bring them some relief,” the CPM leader said.

“So far, Cuttack city has no permanent night shelter,” collector and district magistrate Kishore Kumar Mohanty conceded today.

“I have already taken up the matter with the Cuttack Municipal Corporation. The process of identifying houses to convert them into temporary night shelters and putting up makeshift night shelters is already under way,” Mohanty said.