‘No guarantee for life here’: After Delhi hostel collapse, students leave

Students move their belongings out of rented accommodation in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, a day after a private hostel building collapsed in the area. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

An FIR under Sections 105, 290, and 125(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), relating to culpable homicide, negligence during construction or repair of buildings, and rash and risky act that endangers life respectively, has been registered against Hari Ram, the alleged owner of the hostel– Hostel Daze.

On Sunday afternoon, Satya Niketan, a five-storey building that housed the private hostel collapsed opposite Sri Venkateswara College in Dhaula Kuan area of Delhi. (Express Photos by Praveen Khanna)

“The condition of every building in Satya is such that whoever received a call felt that their own building must have fallen,” said Nirali, another Delhi University student. She shifted from Surat to pursue her studies and continues to live in a flat near ‘Satya Square’. “This collapse happened right here where we gather to shop, drink tea and eat momos,” she said.

She said that many women stay in this area as from any other area college is “inaccessible”’ but now most have been called back home because their parents don’t want them to stay anywhere else. “It is either don’t study or live in these inhuman, life-threatening conditions.”

Many women stay in Delhi’s Satya Niketan as the college is “inaccessible” from any other area. (Express Photos by Praveen Khanna)

Nirali wants justice, “We want compensation—one crore [rupees] should be given to the families of all those who died. For the workers who died, they should be given a government job. By the way, work was going on in the basement, and 10 workers are still trapped there. So they should be given government jobs and one crore each. The VC should resign, and our CM, Rekha Gupta, should resign.

Some students have been called back home by their parents after Sunday’s hostel collapse. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

Mohit Nehra, a 20-year-old student from Gurgaon who resided in the Satya Niketan building said he had just returned from the nearby metro when he saw children fleeing from the building. He started helping them evacuate. “A friend of mine jumped from the window…He jumped from the third floor and his legs broke, but now he is safe,” he said, however, another friend from the Motilal Nehru college died. “My family called asking if I was safe, thankfully I am. They told me to let my belongings go.”

He now lives in a building in the street behind the building, “I don’t want to stay. But it’s an emergency situation. No one will provide me with a place all of a sudden. All these things will have to be handled but there is too much chaos,” he said.

(Afshana Ali is an intern at The Indian Express)