Delhi shelter board denies deaths due to cold

New Delhi: The Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) on Tuesday denied reports of deaths due to cold waves in the national capital.

Speaking to ANI, Shurbir Singh, CEO of DUSIB, said, "DUSIB rebut the facts shown by media that 44 people died because of cold in Delhi. No such case has been reported to the board. We have checked and found that not only in cold but also in summers such deaths happen. This is completely unfair to connect it with cold."

Singh added that there are more departments under DUSIB, including police, and they did not receive "anything as negative as this report".

"There are a total of 261 night shelters and all are active and all the facilities are available there. Till now, we have given shelters to more than 13,900 people. Our rescue team is completely functioning at night time on the ground and our control room is active at night. If we find any destitute on road we go to him and check if he wants shelter. With this practice, we have reached the number of 13,900," he asserted.

Singh further said if anyone has any kind of data of dead people and wants to share for any rectification then he is welcomed.

"We will definitely look into that and will work on anything left from our side," he stated.

Northern India has been witnessing chilly winter days for the last couple of days.

Earlier on Saturday, Manmohan Singh, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director, Shimla, said the temperature in north India is likely to drop further in the coming days.

After fresh snowfall in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh, the cold wave has intensified in the region.

The air quality in the national capital, however, continued to be in the 'very poor' category.