In a city where students paid with lives, hostel projects stalled, crawling

In May 2022, seven months after he took charge as Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Prof Yogesh Singh told a press conference that two 1,000-bed hostels — one each for men and women in postgraduate classes — would come up at the university’s Dhaka complex near North Campus within two years.

More than four years later, excavation is nearly all that has taken place at the site for one of these two projects. Work at the site began only in April this year, a project official said. On September 7, the day after five students were killed in the building collapse in Satya Niketan, the Delhi High Court decried the “absolutely inadequate number of hostels” in DU, which it said forced students to stay in “very dangerous” paying guest (PG) accommodation “causing threat to [their] life and security”.

DU has been promising to address the shortage of student housing for years. But very little has moved during the tenure of Prof Singh, who became VC in October 2021. He begins a second five-year term next month. The two hostels for men and women students promised by Singh in his 2022 press conference are stalled or crawling — so are at least four other housing projects for students announced during his tenure, records of the meetings of DU’s Executive Council (EC) and Building Committee, project documents, and planning approvals show.

The minutes of just one of the 24 EC meetings held in Singh’s tenure record a discussion on the student housing projects. Mithuraaj Dhusiya, who has been on the EC since February 2025, told The Indian Express: “Before the [Satya Niketan] incident, there had been no serious discussion on hostel facilities as part of the agenda.

The key agenda items have mostly been related to AC (Academic Council) decisions, disciplinary matters, ICC (Internal Complaints Committee) issues, ad hoc teachers, fee matters, and the opening of new colleges.” Singh told The Indian Express on Monday that the requirement of clearances from multiple regulatory and administrative authorities had contributed to the delays.

Some of these projects are stuck waiting for funds or approvals. Others are yet to start. Three of the projects are in the Dhaka complex, with a combined proposed capacity of more than 3,000 beds. Three other projects are in South Campus.

PROJECT: Hostel cum Residential Block Location: Dhaka complex, close to Mukherjee Nagar Capacity: 1,456 seats Estimated cost: Rs 318 crore Executing agency: NBCC (India) Ltd Tender/ work awarded: September 2023 Scheduled completion: March 2025 STATUS: Construction began in April 2026; basement work underway.

A top project official said that in a best-case scenario, completion is expected by 2028. The project is being taken up under DU’s Institution of Eminence program, funded mainly by the Union Ministry of Education. Officials said that the project had been delayed by 31 months even before construction began.

The work that was awarded in September 2023 with completion targeted for March 2025, saw bhoomi poojan only in September 2025 — six months after the deadline for completion had passed. Continuous on‑ground work began in April 2026.

Officials attributed much of the delay to the need for clearances from agencies including the Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, National Highways Authority of India, Airports Authority of India, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the Environment and Forest Department, Delhi Development Authority, and Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

A wholesale revision of the project’s master plan layout was also required, a senior university official said. On September 13, when The Indian Express visited the Dhaka complex site, workers were assembling the steel framework inside the foundation pit.

The foundation slab had been cast and portions of retaining walls had been built. A supervisor at the site said: “Once [the project management consultant] NBCC got the approvals, we began work in April this year.” According to this official, if work continues uninterrupted, the facility can be delivered in “another 20 to 24 months”.

However, a lot depends on curbs on construction that are expected after the air-pollution season begins in November, the official added. A senior NBCC official said: “The project will take at least until 2028 for completion.”