Will build hostels for 10,000 students: Rekha Gupta after Satya Niketan tragedy

The Delhi government will build hostels for 10,000 students, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said, days after a PG collapsed in Satya Niketan and killed seven people. The move aims to address unsafe private accommodation and ease pressure on families.

In Short

• Rekha Gupta says hostel locations are being identified
• Says hostels to admit both male and female students from any Delhi college
• Says construction underway at multiple colleges and locations

The Delhi government will develop hostel facilities for 10,000 students, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Tuesday, as demand grows for more state-run accommodation after the Satya Niketan tragedy, which killed seven people.

She said the government is also framing a policy to ensure proper accommodation for the large number of students who come to Delhi every year.

Gupta said meetings have been held with the departments concerned and locations for the hostels are being identified. The hostels will be for both male and female students and will be open to students from any college or university in Delhi.

The government will also survey colleges that have enough space for hostel construction, while some hostels will be built through the public-private partnership mode with a focus on amenities and maintenance.

According to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office, hostel construction is underway or has been proposed at several institutions, including Ambedkar University, Dhirpur, GB Pant Engineering College and Polytechnic, Indira Gandhi Hospital and Medical College, and Delhi Sports University.

Gupta said the Health, Higher Education and Women and Child Development departments, among others, will also be involved in the construction work. Referring to the PPP model, she said, "This would help speed up construction while ensuring proper maintenance and the continued provision of better facilities for students."

The move comes after the collapse of a five-storeyed paying guest accommodation in Satya Niketan near Delhi University's South Campus, in which seven people, including five students, died on September 6.

The shortage of proper hostel facilities in Delhi has come under sharper focus after the incident, with lakhs of students forced to live in unsafe buildings in paying guest hubs across the city while paying high rents for poor amenities.

Gupta said it is important to meet the hostel needs of colleges and universities if Delhi is to emerge as a bigger education hub of the country. She said lakhs of students come to Delhi for admission to different institutions but do not get hostel facilities.

"The Delhi government has decided to construct hostels for 10,000 students to ensure their safety, security and economical accommodation will be taken care of," she said.

She also said, "We will develop such hostels where parents can leave their children with complete peace of mind, regardless of which state they come from and the students also will not have to worry and can concentrate on their dreams."

Immediately after the Satya Niketan tragedy, a high-level meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu was held, which was also attended by the Chief Minister. The meeting discussed the issue and Sandhu directed a committee headed by Education Minister Ashish Sood to frame a policy.

An 18-member committee has been set up with the approval of the lieutenant governor to assess the demand-supply gap in student housing and ensure land is available for hostel development, while also exploring the use of vacant government land and buildings for student accommodation.

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