DU to help solve girls' housing needs

Sonia Sarkar / TNN / Dec 24, 2007, 01:32 IST

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If the proposal made by Pehel, DU's women safety body, is accepted by the varsity, there will be a centralised housing office to help outstation girls get safe accommodation in and around campus.

NEW DELHI: Woes of outstation students at Delhi University (DU) may soon be over. If the proposal made by Pehel, DU’s women safety body, is accepted by the varsity, there will be a centralised housing office to help outstation girls get safe accommodation in and around campus. At the same time, PG accommodation providers around the campus will have to put in their credentials at the office before renting out rooms.
"The centralised housing office would keep a data of landlords in and around different clusters of colleges located all over the city.It would be a one-stop destination for outstation students to find out about the reliable and safer places," said Shormistha Panja, convenor of Pehel and dean, arts faculty.
The proposed office will be along the lines of western universities where this mechanism is a big hit among international students who don’t manage to get a hostel room.
The proposal is timely as there have been a number of cases where outstation students staying as paying guests have been subjected to harassment by their landlords. The students feel hapless since they have no other option. The suggestion for the housing office came from the feedback Pehel received from students in a questionnaire on how safe their PGs were.

"All the first-year students were asked to fill in a form in the first few weeks of the new academic session. They had to answer many questions regarding safety, ambience, privacy, food, etc at their PG accommodation," said Panja.
The questionnaire was distributed to students of colleges both in north and south campus including Miranda House, Gargi, Lady Shri Ram, Jesus and Mary among others. As per the suggestions, the private accommodation providers would have to get a clearance from the centralised housing office before renting out their rooms to students. Those with a bad record as landlords are also likely to be listed in the office to ensure students don’t approach them for accommodation.

Panja added: "Suggesting this mechanism doesn’t mean that the university shouldn’t have more hostels. Our aim is to break down the inhibition and resistance among the young women who come to Delhi for studies and live on their own. The local police also have a role to play in it."
sonia.sarkar@timesgroup.com

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