‘Rampant abuse at Vasai shelter’

The inmates of a shelter home under the government of Indiarsquos ambitious project Deendayal Antyodaya YojanamdashNational Urban Livelihoods Mission DAYNULMmdashin Vasai are allegedly being tortured assaulted and not taken care of by the workers of an NGO that runs it The inmates have also alleged that they are not provided good food Neither is anything done under the Mission for their upliftment as this reporter found at the facilityThe Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation VVCMC ran two shelter homesmdashone each at Nalasopara and Vasai The facility at Nalasopara was shut last December as its land was reportedly acquired to complete the bullet train project and all its inmates were accommodated in the Vasai facility since January More than 70 male and female inmates now are allegedly being mistreated hereAn inmate shows his bruises alleging he was beaten up PicsHanif PatelThe DAYNULMrsquos mission is to reduce poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households by enabling the needy with selfemployment and skilled wage employment opportunities through strong grassroots level institutions for the poor However nothing to this effectmdashno training facility etcmdashwas seen when this reporter visited the facilityIt is learnt that after an activist complained to Valiv police regarding the atrocities on inmates at the Vasai facility a police team visited the shelterHow NGO was ropedinAn NGO was ropedin by the VVCMC in September 2022 to look after the facility after corruption and penal offences surfaced in another shelter home at NalasoparaSome of the women inmates of the Vasai shelterActivists alleged that the inmates underwent horrific torture by the civic staff members who snatched the jewellery cash and property papers from elderly residentsldquoBut despite the matter being brought to the notice of Municipal Commissioner Anilkumar Pawar on May 3 2022 no FIR was registered against civic staff member Rahul More who had snatched the jewellery and cash of an elderly inmate Snehlata Narkar Instead More was suspended The civic body did not file an FIR against Morerdquo alleged Rupali Nandvikar an activist and secretary of Mahila Sanghatak NCPInmate connedmidday spoke to Narkar who said ldquoRahul More was incharge of the Nalasopara shelter home I used to work as a nanny in Borivli My husband and daughter died a few years ago After I lost my job due to old age I thought about staying in the shelter home at Nalasopara so that I could get food and good carerdquoSukhdeo Darveshi Controller DAYNULMldquoAt the facility last year More took the jewellery I was wearing I had gold ear studs and a gold chain I donrsquot know the exact price but the jewellery weighed 175 tola gold He More promised me that it would be kept safe in his possession I also carried R 15000 cash but this money was also taken by Morerdquo the 71yearold Narkar allegedldquoAfter I realised that More had smartly taken away my jewellery and cash I contacted him seeking its return When he did not return them to me I contacted Rupali Nandvikar and told her everything in April 2022rdquo recalled Narkar who is now staying at a private oldage home on MumbaiAhmedabad highwayldquoI am a feeble woman This was the reason I went to the governmentrun shelter home Since I canrsquot pay this oldage home monthly I have to work here hellip itrsquos painful but I have no other optionrdquo sobbed NarkarNandvikar said ldquoDespite my intervention the civic body did not move an inch But when I threatened to launch a massive protest outside VVCMC headquarters Pawar called More and asked him to return the jewellery and cash More told Pawar that he had sold Narkarrsquos jewellery Then More was asked to compensate Narkar with cash Instead of registering an FIR against More the VVCMC commissioner only suspended himrdquoShe further alleged that there were other financial irregularities at the shelter homes ldquoWhen I insisted that there is no transparency in the work at the shelter home Pawar in September ropedin an NGO called Sadik Masih Medical Social Servant Society to run both the shelter homesrdquo she addedldquoThe Nalasopara shelter home was shut in December hence all the inmates were brought to Vasai facility where they are being treated badly and forged inflated bills are being produced before VVCMC to extract huge sums of moneyrdquo she addedAround 75 inmates both male and female are housed in the Vasai shelter home A few inmates have symptoms of partial mental retardation Nandvikar saidldquoWomen inmatesrsquo hair has been extremely trimmed Their washroom stinks A few days ago a female inmate had escaped the shelter home She is mentally unstable I have been told that she was sexually abused but she is too unstable to recall anythingrdquo Nandvikar saidInmates diedAn inmate Rajesh Parmar alleged that over a dozen inmates died after the NGO took over to run the facility ldquoThey donrsquot provide good food while inmates suffering from blood pressure and diabetes need extra care The manager and caretaker of the NGO consume alcohol where the CCTV cameras do not cover the areardquoA highly placed source at VVCMC told midday that the inmates have been sending letters complaining against the NGO staff to the commissionerNandvikar said ldquoI have been told that the NGO workers assault those who raise their voice against the highhandedness of NGO staff So many issues have been raised before the commissioner through my letter but till date no action has been taken against the NGO I have learnt that Assistant Municipal Commissioner Sukhdeo Darveshi who was suspended thrice for his alleged involvement in corruption is shielding the NGOrdquoLast week Nandvikar informed Valiv police regarding the atrocities on the inmates at the facility following which a police team visited the shelterldquoAfter we received a complaint a team was sent to the facility to check the veracity of allegations A few inmates are mentally unstable and others are senior citizens We are conducting a thorough investigation and will speak to the senior civic officials on this issuerdquo said Kailash Barve senior inspector of Valiv police stationVVCMC speakldquoThe NGO is doing great work for the inmates and we have not received any complaint Also there is no issue of forged billshellipbut there were a few clerical errors in the bills and we asked the NGO to send revised onesrdquo said Darveshi who is the Controller of DAYNULMWhen asked why no FIR was registered against More Darveshi said ldquoWe suspended him immediately We have not registered an FIR as the matter is still being investigated internally since April last year The matter is being blown out of proportion by an inmate Rajesh Parmar who had assaulted his coinmate An FIR was registered against himrdquoParmar countered saying ldquoI was falsely implicated by the NGO and Darveshi who want to evict me from the facilityrdquoAfter midday contacted civic officials about the sensitive matter Darveshi visited the shelter home last Saturday and pressured Parmar to leave the facility along with his family members Parmar stays there with his wife and daughterldquoDarveshi visited the shelter home and has been mounting pressure on me to leave the premises He told me that he has reposed faith in me but got upset when he knew I was approaching the media to expose the truthrdquo Parmar saidVVCMC commissioner Pawar remained unavailable for commentNGO speakChandan Kumar Singh driverturnedmanager at the shelter said ldquoWe donrsquot assault anyone hererdquo His colleague Rahul Wade said ldquoThe VVCMC is yet to clear our bills from SeptemberrdquoRepeated calls and messages to NGO President Tarun Mishra were unanswered75Approximate No of inmates at the Vasai shelterMay 3Day abuse was reported in 2022