ISLAMABAD: A mattress company’s initiative ‘roadside billbeds’, that acclaimed global fame for providing peaceful nights to homeless footpath dwellers, is awaiting Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Rawalpindi Development Authority’s (RDA) nod to get these beds installed in the twin cities.
The dual-purpose advertising boards were earlier installed in nine cities of the country and the plan was an extension adding 75 more billbeds on the roads of the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad alongside police pickets.
Master company’s Managing Director (MD) Shahzad Malik while talking to APP said that the company, inspired by its motto of “ a good night sleep”, designed road-side advertising boards which can function as ordinary billboards in the day but at night they can be flipped to be converted into beds for homeless people. The company, he added, was in consultation with CDA and RDA and the facility will be installed soon after a go-ahead signal from these authorities.
He also said that unfortunately the number of homeless labourers, who come from rural areas to earn their livelihood in these major cities, was increasing and they were forced to spend their nights on pavements.
The MD also said that the bill-beds were a donation from the company, adding that any other organisation or department willing to install theses bill-beds could approach the company as “this meaningful comfort for homeless gives us warm and fuzzy feelings.”
“This is an awesome idea and I am sure the homeless labourers must be thankful to its initiator for their comfortable night sleep after hectic day jobs,” a citizen Shahbaz Ali said.
According to reports, this initiative of the company this had earned global appreciation in social media and was later accorded with the Cannes Bronze Medal for clever advertising. The Indian media, especially NDTV (New Delhi Television), had given this inventiveness a wide coverage considering it a fruitful idea to be implemented in its capital city, where nearly fifty thousand homeless spent their nights at footpaths, according to their census.
