Chennai Corporation holds night street play to spread awareness on homeless shelters

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted a street play at 10 pm on Friday at the Chennai Central Railway Police Station to create awareness among the public about the shelter facilities and services available under the civic body’s shelter scheme. 

More than 800 members of the public participated in the awareness drive. Shelter social workers used traditional folk art forms, including parai attam, kadhani koothu and oyilattam, to disseminate information about GCC’s shelters for the urban homeless. 

A public pledge was also administered to encourage community participation and support for the initiative. The GCC operates 57 night shelters accommodating 1,384 homeless people. Of these, 43 are general shelters catering to families, women, senior citizens and other vulnerable groups, while 14 are hospital shelters. It also provides free basic amenities, including drinking water, electricity and three meals a day. 

Chief Community Development Officer Rajkumar, representatives of the Gender and Policy Lab, Legis, and personnel from the Periamedu Police Station, the Railway Protection Force (RPF), and the Singapen Police participated in the programme.