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When Ambuj Chaurasia, 18, stepped on his journey from Bihar to Delhi to finalize his allotted seat in Motilal Nehru College (MNC), he had two reasons to worry. One was ‘If the document verification would happen smoothly or not’. And second, ‘Where to stay?’.
Neither Ambuj was alone in desperately hunting for an accommodation, nor MNC is the only college to ‘not to have a hostel’. Delhi is a dream destination of lakhs of students who aspire to study in key universities like Delhi University (DU) or want to prepare for SSC/UPSC exam. DU alone is a home to nearly 4 lakh students in its campuses and affiliated colleges. This creates a huge demand for accommodation facilities.
Delhi, as well known, is suffering from an acute land shortage. This being the primary reason, among all the colleges of DU, only 20 have hostel facilities. And even these hostels can accommodate merely 3516 students. When compared with the lakhs of students studying there, the figure appears to be a ‘drop in the ocean’.
Then comes the PG/Flat owners into picture. PGs are usually offered with different rates depending on their location and the facilities they provide. On an average, the charge of a PG is around ₹10,000. However, if the PG is around college/university campus, the charge can vary accordingly. Ujjawal Singh, who studied in ARSD College (2017-20), says, “My yearly college fee was ₹11,000 and I used to pay ₹30,000 for two months as monthly rent”. He doesn’t forget to add his unemployment status from after passing college till now.
Even these highly expensive PGs are not up to the expectations of students. “My village bathroom provided me more space than this room”, Ambuj who has started living in Ber Sarai told us. A room is packed with a bed, a table-chair, a small almirah and …., that’s all. In some rooms, the occupant doesn’t even have the freedom to move 360°. Hygiene and sanitation are also ignored if the PG is of low rent. Earlier the PG owners would solicit parents about the facilities, but now the situation is changed with brokers coming into the picture.
There have been demands from several quarters to regulate the PGs in terms of their rent, sanitation, hygiene, safety & security, emergency fire exits etc. The recent fire incident in a girls PG in Mukherjee Nagar has also strengthened the demand to seriously look into the ‘PG epidemic’ of Delhi, so that the situation can be more sustainable for students.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.