"It Is Like Living In Jail": Students Flag Delhi's Unsafe, Squalid Hostels

New Delhi: The collapse of Delhi's Satya Niketan - a PG accommodation where seven people died and five were injured last week - has placed sharp focus on the living condition of students who come to the national capital to have a fair chance for a better future. But the years they should spend studying become the time they fight squalor, bad food and contaminated water, landlords and brokers who tend to take advantage of their helplessness. At the worst - they risk their lives every day at the urban slums they live in, however temporarily. Six of those who died and all who were injured at Satya Niketan were students.Away from the comforts and protection of home, these students, taking engineering, NEET and civil services exams, end up struggling to stay afloat at a crucial time when they deserve all possible help to focus on their chosen career. NDTV visited Old Rajinder Nagar in West Delhi - an area that had made headlines two years ago for another tragedy -- to check if ground realities have changed. In the monsoon of 2024, Three UPSC aspirants had drowned inside a flooded coaching basement.Today, while most coaching centres have rectified errors and closed unsafe basements, a dangerous new crisis has emerged: Degraded, high-risk student accommodations. At a local paying guest facility in nearby Karol Bagh, NDTV found conditions that are shocking: Rows and rows of dilapidated houses, often unpainted and wet with seepage, stand amid a snarl of electric wires poking out of lampposts and old air conditioners - presenting a ready-made fire hazard. Inside, the conditions are worse. One is greeted by narrow, broken stairways that have garbage piled on landings. The rooms are small, the makeshift kitchens bereft of even the most basic of cupboards, the toilets dirty and waterlogged. There is no clean drinking water even, said Vikas Mishra. "As an aspirant, living here is like living in jail. The owners will harass you. The brokers will harass you. If all goes well, then there is the water issue. Sometimes there is no water for five-six days," he said.When the water is available, it turns out to be like sewage. "It is grey, meaning at some point it gets contaminated... this is how we live," he added."Those who come from the government, check only the roads. Checking the roads is not enough. They should also look inside the buildings. The stairs ae so narrow. And we have to climb to the fourth floor... And see how the owners live. They have beautiful, well-furnished homes," said Sakshi Singh, another aspirant who lives in the locality.The Satya Niketan collapse put sharp focus on the living condition of students who come to the national capital.The Satya Niketan tragedy has brought the Delhi High Court's attention on the plight of students. The court has ordered the civic authorities to check the condition and legal situation of these PG accommodations, ordering that a report be submitted within two weeks. "A large number of students come to Delhi from outside for their studies. They are the future of the country," the court said, pointing out that the condition of the places they are forced to live in is "pathetic"."You (the government) cannot evade your responsibility," the judges added. The government has been asked to increase hostel facilities for students. Investing in student hostels is essentially an investment in the students' future, the court added.