New Delhi: In the narrow lanes of south Delhi’s Satya Niketan, dotted by student PGs and tea stalls, volunteers formed a human chain Sunday evening as students of Sri Venkateswara College, barely two hundred metres away, made their way to the campus where college authorities have allowed them to spend the night.
Other DU South Campus colleges including Motilal Nehru, too, have offered their students living in PGs in Satya Niketan the option to spend the night on campus after a six-storey building in the area collapsed Sunday afternoon. Rescue operations are still underway, with authorities saying 11 people were rescued, of which at least three have died.
The building housed a 75-bed paid guest (PG) accommodation operating under the name Hostel Daze.
Carrying a college ID and small backpack, Suraj, a student at Sri Venkateswara College, made his way towards the main gate.
“Since the PG collapsed, colleges have been communicating over texts that students can enter college campuses after showing their IDs and stay the night,” he told ThePrint.
Deepika Kataria, another student of Sri Venkateswara College, said she came to the college campus to find a moment to herself. “My PG is very close to Hostel Daze and when the building collapsed, I felt that there was an earthquake,” she said.
Anxious, Kataria said that she had not been able to go back to the spot. “Since our college authorities gave us this option, I have decided to spend the night with my friends here. At least it will allow me to be at peace.”
Vandana, another student of Sri Venkateswara College, too reached the college campus in search of a safe place. “I’m glad that the college opened its doors for us, but what happens tomorrow and the day after? We have to live in those unsafe PGs and pay obscene rents.”
Vandana added that, for a triple-sharing room, she pays Rs 10,000 for a bed. “This is just the rent for a bed in a room that has no ventilation, and smells of fungal growth.”
Roshni, another student, said Satya Niketan, much like Delhi’s other student hubs, lacks safe and affordable housing for students. “For even Rs 15,000 a month we get houses in congested narrow lanes with no ventilation and bad sanitation. Student unions each year demand for rent control, but nothing changes,” she said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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