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

A day after a private hostel building collapsed in Delhi, Anushri, a Delhi University student from Varanasi, packed up a grey suitcase, leaving her rented place meters away from the collapsed building and decided to leave the city.

“My parents told me to come back for a little bit till the situation here is managed,” she said. “I am scared; I am thinking of shifting somewhere else because there is no guarantee for life here. I pay Rs.9500 in rent, but seeing this (the collapse), my parents are calling me back home.” 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.

Seven persons have died, several are feared to be trapped inside and 11 have been pulled out and admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre. “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. 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.

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) Akriti Kanodia is a trainee journalist with a keen interest in law, politics, film and society.

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