Box-like rooms, steep rents: How students survive in cramped PG maze

New Delhi: For students arriving in the national capital from across the country, Satya Niketan's proximity to Delhi University's South Campus makes it an easy place to look for a home, even when the room, food and facilities fall short. The five-storey building that collapsed in south Delhi's Satya Niketan on Sunday, killing seven people, housed a boys' PG. Its collapse has left students living in the neighbourhood in a state of uncertainty about the buildings around them, but also about why so many of them end up living in PGs in the first place. For most freshers, Satya Niketan is one of the first places they hear about when they start looking for accommodation near South Campus. The lanes are full of PGs, messes, shops and cafes, and the metro station and colleges are within easy reach. With hostel accommodation unavailable at several colleges and limited even where it exists, students often have little room to be selective. Roshan Pal, 18, a first-year student of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College from Lucknow, had gone out with friends for ice cream around 1.10 pm on Sunday when they saw people running through the lane. 'We thought there was some fight or mob because the elections are coming up. We saw people running frantically and, within seconds, we saw a huge cloud of smoke spreading heavily. Then we realised a building had collapsed. I called the police myself,' Roshan said. He said that until around 1.30 pm, personnel from the South Campus police post were the only police personnel he saw at the spot. Students and locals had also rushed towards the building. The accommodation available to students comes at sharply different prices. A bed in a triple- or four-sharing room without a balcony and with little or no ventilation costs around Rs 10,000-Rs 12,000, students said. A double-sharing room with better ventilation or a balcony costs around Rs 15,000 or more, while a single room can cost Rs 25,000. 'I am from Lucknow, and I pay around Rs 15,000 for a shared room. But even a room without proper ventilation or a balcony can cost Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. If you want a single room, it can go up to Rs 25,000. You keep paying more for a little more space or a balcony,' Roshan said. He said the buildings can look very different when students first come to see them. 'Every academic session, PG buildings are repainted. When parents come to see the place, the building looks new and well maintained. If there is a balcony or some ventilation, you naturally get attracted to that room. You think, 'This is a good place.' But after you start living there, you find that the fridge does not cool properly, the induction does not work, and the washing machine may not work,' Roshan said. For students sharing rooms, even small problems become difficult to escape. 'The rooms are so small. Three people can be living in a room, and sometimes six people are staying in spaces where there should not be that many people. You are studying, sleeping and keeping all your things in the same small space,' said Abhinav Raman Sinha, 18, a first-year student of Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College from Uttarakhand. Ventilation is one of the things students said they end up paying more for. 'If you do not keep an alarm, sometimes you would not even know whether it is day or night. There is barely any ventilation in some rooms. The rooms with balconies cost more, so even air and light become something you have to consider when you are deciding what you can afford,' another student said. The same goes for basic services.