With winter settling in and the nights getting colder and longer, homeless children here are preferring to call the streets their home instead of taking refuge in night shelters, which they say are less child friendly, say NGOs.

There are 64 permanent night shelters at present in the city while the government is working on 84 more temporary night shelters. Out of the total capacity of 9085 in the permanent night shelters, 665 seats are for women and children.

The construction and maintenance work of the night shelters has been handed over to Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board by Delhi government.

"The night shelters in Delhi are male and adult oriented. Elders bully children and ask them to do their work," says Sanjay Gupta, Convenor, Bal Adhikar Abhiyan, an NGO working for welfare of the homeless children.