New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS): There are a total of 9.38 lakh homeless people in urban areas of the country with the national capital being home to 46,724 shelterless citizens, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Citing data from the Census of India 2011, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said, in a written reply in Lok Sabha, that the maximum number of 1,80,929 urban homeless are in Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra with 1,11,373 and Madhya Pradesh with 1,04,967 are the next two states with the most number of city dwellers without shelter, the MoS said.

Tokhan said the Census of India conducts an enumeration of the population in the country on a decadal basis, including homeless people.

As per Census of India 2011, the total urban houseless population was 9,38,348, he said.

As per the information given by States/UTs, as of November 20, a total of 1,994 shelters with a capacity of 1.16 lakh were functional under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM). A total of 722 non-NULM shelters were functional with a capacity of 24,757, the MoS said.

Tokhan said the operational guidelines of the Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH) component of DAY-NULM prescribe systematic third-party surveys to be undertaken in cities/towns by the urban local bodies to identify the number of homeless and assess the need for shelters.

The MoS said as reported by States/UTs key challenges in providing shelters to urban homeless include the unavailability of suitable land for the construction of new shelters and the mobilisation of resources for operation and maintenance (O&M) of SUH beyond five years.

The unwillingness of the homeless to leave the place where they have been living for so long and frequent migration of the homeless people were also cited by states as challenges, the MoS said.

In a written reply, the MoS said it was the primary responsibility of States/Union Territories to provide shelters for the urban homeless.

“However, to complement their efforts, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is administering SUH under DAY-NULM, through respective States/UTs. It focuses on providing permanent shelters equipped with basic facilities to the urban homeless,” the MoS said.

"Operational guidelines of SUH provide for identification and rescue of urban homeless, under which urban local bodies (ULBs) and the agency running the shelter have the responsibility to ensure that no homeless person in the area spends the night in the open," the MoS said.