Hostel crunch leaves DU students scrambling for pvt facilities

“The strike was called off after the DU administration assured us that our demands will be considered.  But there has been no progress since then,” claimed Praveen Kumar, who organised the strike.

The demand for more hostels had also been raised in past by council bodies of the University as well as its students' union (DUSU) and teachers' association (DUTA).  

“Out of the total number of students, not even five per cent can avail hostel facilities offered by the university.  Students have been fighting for this for years, but not enough has been done.

Even if they set up one or two more hostels, how would that help considering the number of students admitted every year,” said DUTA president Nandita Narain.  The authorities, however, claimed that the proposals for more hostels have been under consideration and their is no laxity on the university's end.

“We came up with a hostel for 1,500 girl students in 2011. Later, we came up with a hostel for North East students.  These things take time.

 Certain clearances are needed including those from DDA and the Horticulture Department. Even if funds are allocated for hostels, then also the process is a lengthy one,” says JM Khurana, DU Students' Welfare Dean.  

The off-campus hostels include boys-only Gwyer Hall and Jubilee Hall, Mansarover Hostel for Boys, Postgraduate Men's Hostel, D S Kothari Hostel for Boys, V K R V Rao Hostel for Boys, Meghdoot Hostel for Girls, University Hostel for Women, North Eastern Students' House, Ambedkar-Ganguly Students House for Women, Saramati Post Graduate Men's Hostel, Aravali Boys Hostel (South Campus), Geetanjali Hostel for PG Women, WUS University Hostel for girls and Rajiv Gandhi Hostel for Girls at Dhaka Complex.

Colleges with hostel facilities are Daulat Ram College, Hindu College, Kalavati Gupta Hostel, Indraprastha College for Women, Kirori Mal College, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Miranda House, Hansraj College, Shri Ram College of Commerce and Sri Venkateswara College.