India
oh-PTI
For three students living at Satya Niketan Girls’ Secondary School, the fallout from the building collapse meant they had to vacate their accommodation in the middle of the night after police arrived at midnight to vacate the building, which could be demolished in the next couple of days due to it being unsafe.
Three Maitreya College students who were staying in a room on the fourth floor of the building were not given alternative accommodation and had to call a neighbor friend and ask if they could stay in her apartment. Their belongings, including clothes and other essentials, remained inside the PG located next to the collapsed building.
Following the fatal building collapse at Delhi’s Satya Niketan, three students were evacuated from the unsafe PG building at midnight after the MCD ordered its demolition within three days due to its dangerous condition.
“We were asked to vacate the house at 12.30 at night. There was panic because at that moment we had no choice. It was already so late and we had nowhere to go,” Geetanjali, one of the third year students, told PTI.
MKD has given the owner of No 13 three days to demolish the building after it was left in a “devastating and dangerous condition” following the collapse of a five-storey building in the area, which killed seven people.
By the time the police arrived, the girls living on the lower floors had already left their rooms.
Students who were evacuated from other PGs in the area were taken to nearby colleges, including Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College and Sri Venkateswara College, where arrangements were made for their temporary stay. They were provided with food and shelter as civil authorities evicted residents from buildings deemed unsafe after Sunday’s collapse.
Gitanjali and her two roommates were still sharing a room on the fourth floor. The remaining three rooms on this floor were occupied by the owners of the PG, who were also present when the police arrived.
“They told us to leave for our safety and said they were asked to vacate the place. They also said there was a possibility that another building would have to be demolished,” she said.
The students, who paid Rs 8,000 for a triple room, immediately left the building.
Gitanjali said she called her friend as they were leaving and told her he would stop by her house.
“At the same time I called my friend and told her: “We are being kicked out, so I will come to your apartment.” We came here, but our things are still in the PG,” she said.
For the students, the problem didn’t end with finding a place to stay. They also had to figure out how to get to college the next morning while their books, clothes and other necessities remained inside a building they were told was unsafe.
“If we were freshmen and had no friends and classmates here, where would we go at 12.30 at night? There was no real alternative,” said another student.
She said the situation was particularly difficult because the college gates had already closed by then.
“We had no choice. By then, even colleges had stopped allowing entry. We couldn’t just go there either. We had to call someone we knew and ask if we could stay with them,” she said.
On Monday, Maitreya College continued classes in a hybrid mode, allowing Gitanjali to attend classes remotely. But she said the arrangement did little to resolve greater uncertainty about her housing.
“Hybrid classes allowed me to attend today, but my belongings are still inside. We don’t know yet if we will be able to return and stay there,” she said, adding that her parents, who live in Bihar, have already asked her to return home if the situation worsens.
The overnight evacuation came after a five-story building collapsed in Satya Niketan on Sunday, killing seven people and injuring several others. The building in which the boys’ dormitory was located was assigned by the MCD as object No. 14.
The collapse has since prompted action against civic officials and inspections of other buildings in the densely populated student area.
The civic body said it will demolish site no. 13 if the owner fails to comply and will recover the cost as back taxes.
The MCD has also suspended five officials, including the deputy commissioner and four engineers, in connection with the building collapse. The owner of the collapsed property has been arrested, officials said.
The action has heightened concerns among students living in the area, where a large number of residential buildings have been converted into PG houses to accommodate students attending colleges at Delhi University’s South Campus.
Satya Niketan’s character began to change significantly after Delhi University opened its South Campus in 1973. With the expansion of colleges such as Sri Venkateswara College, Jesus and Mary College and Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, the area has become a convenient accommodation hub for students seeking to live close to their campuses.