Satya Niketan collapse: LG approves committee to address shortage of student accommodations in Delhi

The committee will look at ways to encourage universities and educational institutions to provide safe, affordable and regulated hostel facilities.

Days after a building in South West Delhi’s Satya Niketan that was being run as a hostel collapsed, killing seven people, Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Thursday approved the constitution of a high-powered committee to examine the shortage and safety of accommodations available for students across the Capital. The move is also aimed at creating a centralised database of student accommodations besides enabling students living in such facilities to report their concerns.

The 18-member committee, headed by Education Minister Ashish Sood, will assess the gap between demand for student hostels and available accommodation, and examine the possibility of using vacant or under-utilised properties of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and other government agencies for student housing.

The members of panel include the Chief Secretary, Commissioner of Police, Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Council, Vice-Chairman of the DDA and vice-chancellors of Delhi University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Ambedkar University and Netaji Subhas University of Technology. The Education Secretary will be its member secretary.

The committee has been asked to submit its recommendations within 60 days.

The move follows a meeting between LG Sandhu, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Sood, on Monday during which the LG directed the Education Minister to lead a committee to review institutional and paying-guest accommodation guidelines and explore alternatives through universities, the MCD and DDA.

Among the committee’s terms of reference is examining the feasibility of converting vacant or under-utilised DDA housing and other government properties into student accommodation. It will also identify government land and buildings that could be used to develop additional hostels.

The committee will look at ways to encourage universities and educational institutions to provide safe, affordable and regulated hostel facilities. It will examine the creation of a centralised database of student accommodation, including institutional hostels and, if feasible, registered PG accommodation.

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The panel has also been tasked with proposing a centralised digital monitoring mechanism through which students can report unsafe accommodation, overcrowding, fire hazards and other serious safety concerns with time-bound action.

It will prescribe emergency evacuation and disaster-response protocols and suggest periodic fire and disaster mock drills and safety awareness programmes for students, hostel wardens, university officials and PG operators.