The shelter home is to be built on a three-and-a-half acres of land in Vrindavan at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore for the destitute women.
Widows, ostracised and neglected by their families, come in large numbers to Vrindavan every year from across the country. Around 2,000 of them live in five shelter homes in miserable conditions and turn to beggging.
"There is still very less social acceptance for widows and they are abandoned by their families, particularly in rural areas. We have initiated work for building the country's biggest facility for them in Vrindavan," a senior ministry official said.
"It will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore and three-and-a-half acres of land has been identified for it," he said.
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"After we understood the concerns and problem being faced by the widows, we decided to go for this project at Vrindavan," he added.
According to a 2009-10 study on the living conditions of more than 200 widows in Vrindavan conducted by National Commission for Women, the premises where the homes are run are over 100 years old.
"The infrastructure is unsuited to the needs of the women who live there as there is no running water in the toilets and old women are required to climb stairs to reach their rooms.