Pindi’s only shelter home closed down
PHOTO: File
The Punjab caretaker government closed down the only shelter home (Panahgah) in Rawalpindi, which provided free food and shelter to the poor and most needy.
The three-storey shelter home built at Fawara Chowk used to accommodate 100 people at a time. Apart from providing shelter, the homeless who visited the facility used to get free meal three times a day.
Sources said that the destitute people were expelled from the shelter home along with their belongings while the board and banners were taken down and gates were locked. According to the sources, all the staff working in the shelter were also terminated from service.
Former prime minister Imran Khan inaugurated the shelter home on December 16, 2019.
According to data, since its inauguration, over 1.19 million people were given shelter at night.
According to the sources, all beds, sheets, tables and chairs were taken away from the shelter home by the district administration.
Junaid Khan and Waliullah, labourers by profession, who had shown up for shelter and dinner on Wednesday, said that they were pushed out of the shelter home and they were told that the free food and accommodation had been closed.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2023.