Thousands of Indians, including Punjabis, figure among those large number of homeless, jobless and handicapped people who were forced to put up in the government 'supported' temporary accommodations and whose number has swelled by a whopping 160 per cent across the UK during past eight years.
More than 79,000 homeless families and 1.2 lakh children were presently housed in temporary accommodations by the local authorities (like the city councils) across the UK and their condition was deteriorating due to alleged squeezing of funds by the UK governmement.
Though there was a majority of native UK citizens in the government-run shelters, a sizeable number of them were those people of different communities who were originally hailing from Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. They had gone to the UK in search of greener pastures but most of were unable to find jobs to support themselves and their families.
The estimated number of Punjabis who were living in temporary homes was pegged to be around 15 per cent of the total number of temporary shelter dependent families.
Yes, we did it!
— Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP (@TanDhesi) November 25, 2018
My wife Manveen & I managed to sleep out again in a cardboard box 📦 in the freezing 🥶 cold all night - to raise awareness & funds for the #Slough #homeless winter night shelter.
Thanks to donors to our page https://t.co/YuSvZsSWja almost £4,000 raised so far.🙏 pic.twitter.com/6fHBdDuHdO
Citing a research of the Trussell Trust, the first Sikh UK MP Tan Dhesi said the consequences of continuous 'ideological' fund cuts to city councils was a serious issue and it was proving to be life-changing people across Slough and the country.
He also raised the issue of homeless people and fund cuts with the UK Shadow cabinet minister Andrew Gwynne that the ideological cuts would seriously affect those people who were living in temporary shelters.
Talking to The Tribune and citing a research conducted by the Trussell Trust, Dhesi alleged that the number of homeless people dependent upon temporary homes had surged by 160 per cent during the eight-year Tory regime.
Trussell Trust was an NGO working or ending hunger and poverty across the UK and armed with a nationwide network of food banks. It provides emergency food and support to people locked in poverty and campaign for change to end the need for food banks in the UK. The government puts a large number of the needy under the bread and breakfast system while others were shifted to temporary homes according to their condition and needs.
"More than 10 lakh people are food bank dependent in the UK and it is not a small number for a country like the UK. It has all happened due to wrong and anti-people policies of the Tory government," alleged Dhesi.