INDIA’S capital New Delhi is shivering through an unusually harsh bout of winter cold, blamed for killing scores of homeless people and leaving hard-up residents struggling to keep warm.

The sprawling megacity’s 20 million inhabitants are accustomed to year-round weather extremes, from blistering summer heat to torrential downpours and thick, toxic smog at the end of autumn.

Still, the bracing chill and blustery rains this month have been an ordeal for many, with Delhi recording its coldest January day in nearly a decade on Tuesday.

“There is no denying that it is very cold,” said Mukesh, 30, from his bed at a homeless shelter on the weekend.

He and a small group of residents have taken to huddling around an improvised wood fire, a scene repeated around the kerbsides in the city each night this month.

“The last 10 days have been very cold, especially this past week; there was not much sunshine. We have been worried because we have to try hard to keep warm,” said Mukesh.

Latest Delhi figures on homelessness are hard to come by, but according to India’s 2011 census, about 47,000 of residents are sleeping rough.

Activists, however, said it is a vast underestimate. Official figures show that the homeless shelters are able to only accommodate about 9,300 people in the city.

Centre for Holistic Development’s Sunil Kumar Aledia, who has worked with Delhi’s homeless population for decades, said the city has seen 176 deaths from exposure to the cold so far this year.

“Because of these extreme temperatures, many people on the streets die.”

‘This situation is not normal’

India’s weather bureau told local media that Delhi’s maximum daily temperatures have been between 2°C and 6°C below normal for most of this month.

“This situation is not normal,” said Anjal Prakash of Public Policy Bharti Institute, a think-tank that has worked with the United Nations on climate change modelling.

Extreme weather phenomena “are going to be much more frequent and the severity of these events will also (rise) in future”, he said.

Delhi’s humans are not the only ones suffering through the cold spell.

The city’s stray dogs often congregate around markets and, as the cold sets in each year, many are put in special jackets and fed hot meals to help them endure the weather.

“This year, we felt the cold a lot more; both me and my dogs,” said Raju Kashyap, who runs an outdoor tea shop and looks after some of the strays in the area.

“I have to get out of my house and run my stall… I have to come and stand here to feed them because they depend on me.” – AFP, Janaury 30, 2022.