Delhi University students on hunger strike for more hostels

NEW DELHI: Students from 30 Delhi University colleges started a two-day hunger strike at the Arts Faculty on Friday, demanding that the authorities immediately start

NEW DELHI: Students from 30 Delhi University colleges started a two-day hunger strike at the Arts Faculty on Friday, demanding that the authorities immediately start building more hostels.

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“No new hostel has been built by the university for a long time now. The hostels in the colleges take few students. Now the university needs to wake up as students pay a lot of money at private accommodation,” said Aman Nawaz of All India Students Association (AISA).

The left-leaning student’s body initiated the campaign called the “hostel satyagraha”.

The shortage of hostels has been a concern in DU, especially with many students coming from different parts of the country.

Fourteen out of the 63 colleges have hostel facilities, but with limited capacity. There are 9,000 hostel seats for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. An estimated 1.8 lakh students are enrolled with DU.

For undergraduate students, the university has only the Undergraduate Hostel for Women at the Dhaka Hostel Complex in North Campus.

With minimal residential facility, students are forced to stay in paying guest accommodations. Students alleges PGs charge high rents. In Kamla Nagar — a popular student locality in North Campus — a twin sharing room costs Rs 10,000 per month.

Earlier this month, students organised a ‘Luggage March’ to protest ever-increasing room rents. On August 9, postcards signed by close to 20,000 students were submitted to DU vice-chancellor YogeshTyagi, asking him to start building new hostels.

Students demanded that the government implement the Delhi Rent Control Act 1995, which regulates the rent charged by owners.