Cuttack, Jan. 7: The homeless in the city might finally some reprieve from the winter cold. The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) will open two night shelters for them.

CMC commissioner Rabi Narayan Nanda today said that in the first phase, two locations have been identified for night shelters after considering the concentration of homeless people who live out in the open.

The civic body has decided to start off with night shelters at Malgodown and Pilgrim Road. Each of the two shelters will accommodate 25 to 30 persons. “They will start functioning from tonight at community centres in the two localities,” the CMC commissioner told The Telegraph.

Efforts to open two night shelters follow a demonstration and submission of memorandum to the collector by local CPM leaders on Thursday.

“It’s unfortunate that there was no night shelter for the homeless in the city despite specific directions from the Supreme Court. Steps have only been taken after yesterday’s demonstration in which we demanded shelters for the homeless in these intense cold conditions,” CPM Cuttack unit secretary Subash Singh told The Telegraph today.

“It’s good news that the CMC is ready with night shelters tonight,” he added. Hundreds of homeless people have been sleeping out in the cold under flyovers, in railway stations, bus stands, on verandahs outside shops and on footpaths.

Most of them are migrant labourers and rickshaw-pullers who came to the city in search of livelihood.

They have been using jute sacks and plastic sheets and light bonfires to try and save themselves from the biting cold.

The CMC commissioner said Pilgrim Road and Malgodown were identified for night shelters in the first phase as areas near Malgodown and Railway station apparently have sizeable concentrations of homeless people, several of whom are part of the “floating population”.

The shelter at Pilgrim Road aims to provide protection to homeless rickshaw pullers and beggars who spend nights in a railway station nearby.

The night shelter at Malgodown will provide relief from the cold to labourers and trolley rickshaw pullers working at the largest wholesale mandi in the city.

“Efforts are on to open, if necessary, more night shelters in the city,” Nanda said.