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‘Don’t want to live here anymore’: Students in Delhi’s Satya Niketan pack bags

Most students living in and around Satya Niketan are packing up their bags — some are heading home while others are staying temporarily at a friend’s or relative’s place.

l Satya Niketan, A student hub | ‘Don’t want to live here anymore’: Gripped by uncertainty, students pack bags

A student relocating after the building collapse. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

Written by: Reva Thakkar, Mishal Mussaddique

5 min readNew DelhiSep 8, 2026 11:49 AM IST First published on: Sep 8, 2026 at 07:15 AM IST

Unnayan Bhati moved out of his home in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr last month as he enrolled in Delhi University’s Aryabhatta College.

The 18-year-old found temporary accommodation in Satya Niketan, a hub for DU students with South Campus in proximity.

But he wanted to shift. “The rent was too high. The electricity rates were also steep at Rs 15 per unit,” he said. He spent an entire month looking for a new home.

He received a call on Sunday from a broker. Around 1:30 pm, he was on his way with the broker to visit a hostel when the duo heard tremors. A five-storey building, known as ‘Hostel Daze’, collapsed in front of them. The collapse has claimed at least seven lives.

Both jumped off the scooter promptly. “If we were a bit closer, the building would have crashed on us,” said Bhati.

Grateful for the close shave, he on Monday joined an All India Students’ Association protest, demanding Rs 1 crore compensation for the building collapse victims.With his parents concerned for his safety following the incident, Bhati plans to go back home for a few days. “I’m, for sure, not going to live in Satya Niketan anymore,” he said. But he has already paid Rs 28,000 for one month’s rent and security deposit for his current accommodation.

Rescue operations underway at the site of the incident in Satya Niketan, Sunday. (Express pphoto by Abhinav Saha)

Most students living in and around the area are packing up their bags — some are heading home while others are staying temporarily at a friend’s or relative’s place.

The buildings right next to Hostel Daze have been vacated while the DU has reached out and offered the students temporary housing.An 18-year-old, hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, who lived in Hostel Daze for a year, told The Indian Express that she paid Rs 17,000 a month for a double-sharing room on the fourth floor of the five-storey building. “Rain water used to seep into our room. They promised us a rooftop room, but never shifted us. Even the food was not good… so I left,” she said. She said she has been trying to get her security deposit from the owners since she moved out in June.

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Staying in a building opposite to the collapse site now, she says she does not have the resources to even go back home.

Another student, 19-year-old Isha Biswas, who was witnessing the rescue operation underway at the building collapse site on Monday with her roommates, pointed and said, “That’s where I used to live.”

She moved out of Hostel Daze as the rent of the room kept increasing. Currently living in a PG in the fourth lane of Shanti Niketan, she does not want to move out of the area as just one year of her course is now left. She plans to talk with the owners of her four-storey PG and hope they address her concerns.

Chaos at Nearby PGs after building collapse incident in Delhi. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

Second-guessing their decision

Kanishka Mourya, a student of Maitreyi College, chose a PG in Satya Niketan over her college accommodations as the fee for the same at Rs. 1,80,000 for a year, with a Rs 90,000 fixed deposit.

“There is a hostel criterion, first preference is on a merit basis, second on a distance basis, and the seats are limited according to the courses,” she said. She is now second-guessing her decision.

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Just a day before the building collapse, Priya Chowdhary had moved into the Student Hub PG in Satya Niketan on Saturday. Hailing from Rajasthan, Chowdhary is unsure of her next steps.

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Rescue operations continued for the second day in South West Delhi’s Satya Niketan on Monday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

Aastha Kumari, a 19-year-old student of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, was in her PG hostel eating her lunch when the power went out. “It didn’t seem unusual as power outages are quite frequent. But then I heard people shouting, so I ran out to see what had happened,” she said. “I stayed outside for a while because our warden messaged us on the WhatsApp group to do so.”

Read | First big action after Delhi hostel collapse: 5 MCD officials suspended

Kumari lives two lanes away from Hostel Daze.

“It was so traumatising, I saw five people being taken away from the debris,” she recalled the moments after the building collapse as chaos ensued. Kumari said she wants to just move away from the area, but she can’t afford to. “My parents can’t pay another security deposit or the rent that I’ve already paid for this month. If I don’t get it back, I think I’ll have to drop out,” she said.