Fighting for proper accommodation for outstation students, a group called Right to Accommodation will launch indefinite hungerstrike from Sunday to demand implementation of the Delhi Rent Control Act.
Fighting for proper accommodation for outstation students, a group called Right to Accommodation will launch indefinite hungerstrike from Sunday to demand implementation of the Delhi Rent Control Act.
Demanding proper and affordable accommodation, the group has been taking part in a sit-in protest for over three months outside the Arts Faculty at North Campus of the of Delhi University. “Since last 100 days, we are on protest outside the Arts Faculty and refused to go back to our rented accommodation, and instead have been sleeping on the pavements. Despite the clear provision of the Delhi University Act, the administration has failed to address this legitimate demand of the students,” said convener, Right to Accommodation, Praveen Singh.
From Sunday noon, he will shift his protest venue from North Campus to Civil Lines. “Demanding government action on our demands, from Sunday 12 noon I will be sitting on an indefinite hungerstrike in front of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence,” added Mr Singh.
Some of the prominent demands of the group are implementation of the Delhi Rent Control Act, implementation of Section 33 of the DU Act 1922, abolition of discriminatory rules and regulations in women’s hostels and PGs, round-the-clock access to library and no-profit no-loss canteens or food mess.
“Section 33 of the DU Act clearly says that every student of the university (other than a student who pursues a course of study by correspondence) shall reside in a college, except under specific conditions. Despite rules clearly directing the DU authorities to provide accommodation to each student, only 9,000 hostel seats are available. Scarcity of hostel accommodation has forced students to stay in private accommodation,” he said. The university annually gives admission to over 50,000 students.
Mr Singh claimed that rents in private accommodations are increased many times in area nearby the North Campus and claimed that landlords in nearby Christian Colony are charging a minimum of '5,000 for small rooms of six feet by eight feet area.
“Students from far-off places come to Delhi to study. If they have to pay '10,000 to '15,000 per month, how will they survive The rent should be as per the cost of the building at government rates. We want the Delhi government to enforce the Act to control spiralling rents as accommodation is a major issue for the students in the Delhi University,” he added.
