The Tribune Impact: Footpaths cleared, Patiala administration relocates homeless

A day after The Tribune highlighted the increasing presence of homeless families camping on footpaths near Baradari Garden with some of them even consuming intoxicants in the open, the district administration along with the police carried out a massive drive to relocate them to shelter homes.

The presence of homeless persons, a majority of them migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, had become a growing concern for residents.

In a sudden action at 8 pm on Tuesday, the police barricaded the Mall Road from both sides. Soon, staffers of welfare and other departments arrived and told the homeless families to pack their belongings and sit in the tractor-trailers.

The move triggered a protest, but the police intervened and took the situation in control. The protest ended and the homeless were taken to shelter homes.

With the historic garden being a popular destination among the city residents as well as visitors, encroachments on footpaths outside it had become a source of inconvenience.

According to locals, the number of homeless people living along the roadside near the garden had led to insanitary conditions in the area.

Narinderjit Kaur, a retired school principal, hailed the report highlighting the issue. She said the children of migrants were being forced into beggary and some of them were getting exposed to drugs. “We hope that the civic body and the administration will prevent them from assembling on the footpaths again,” she said.