Death lurks here. With the searing heat scorching one and all, the residents in Delhi’s only government-recognised old-age home are dying.

There’s no water, no medical facility, and the shelter is hot as hell. The Delhi government has so far failed to respond to a request to install a borewell in the shelter, located at Rangpuri Pahari in south Delhi.

In the last two months, 35 residents of this old-age home have reportedly died due to dehydration.

Dire situation: In the past two months, 35 residents of the old people's home at Rangpuri Pahari in south Delhi have reportedly died from dehydration

Suffering: Inmates eat their food next to the body of a resident who died at the shelter home

At risk: EP Kain, a 70-year-old former Western Railway official, said the tin walls of the shelter are 'fatal'

For the past three months, the director of the NGO, The Earth Saviours Foundation, which runs this home, repeatedly wrote to the Delhi chief minister, deputy chief minister and various MLAs seeking permission to install a borewell. But no one has responded to the plea.

When Mail Today contacted the Delhi government’s Social Welfare Department, it said it may consider replacing the organisation running the home.

A statement said: “The shelter home is run by an NGO and existing laws do not provide for its closure. Though the Delhi government has no control over it, the Social Welfare Department will submit its report in two days… such a callous organisation can’t be allowed to run it any further”.

“Also, the figures (regarding the deaths) can’t be verified since the NGO is not registered with the Delhi government,” the statement added.

Ravi Kalra, who runs the NGO, said: “In winter we replaced the tents with tin sheds to protect the inmates from the cold. But now in the summer these sheds are proving to be hell. When the temperature outside is 45 degrees Celsius, inside it goes up to 48 degrees."

“Rangpuri Pahari has no regular Delhi Jal Board water supply and even tankers don’t reach this part of the city,” Kalra said.

"I wrote numerous letters to the Delhi CM, Deputy CM and MLAs to grant permission for a borewell as it is prohibited in south Delhi.

"What I got in return were only CCs of copies marked to the Delhi Jal Board, but no relief at the end."

Agya Kaur, an 87-year-old lady living in the home, said: “People here come with diseases and maggots on their bodies.

"Imagine the kind of environment we are forced to live in without water.”

EP Kain, a 70-year-old former Western Railway official, said: “People who come here are already frail and unwell, but we saw the 35 who died due to lack of water and heat. These tin sheds are fatal.”

Ignored: Ravi Kalra, founder director of the Earth Saviours Foundation holds up unanswered letters written to various authorities requesting permission to build a borewall in the shelter

No water: Agya Kaur, an 87-year-old lady living in the home, said there is a no water either to drink or to use for washing

For years, cases of accidents and horrific deaths have been reported from this shelter.

Run by a charity organisation, it was earlier located on the Green Avenue Road of Vasant Kunj till 2012.

When its lease ended and the government failed to provide alternative land, its 150 inmates were forced to live on the roads for four days in October 2012. Two ailing senior citizens died during this time.

Police from Delhi and other states, the courts and government hospitals send the mentally and physically ill old individuals to this home to be taken care of.