13 September,2010 08:39 AM IST | | Vatsala Shrangi
Roadside dhabas in Delhi University fall victim to Commonwealth Games
After an ignominious eviction from their hostel rooms, Delhi University students are set to lose the experience of stimulating debates on the wooden benches of the roadside dhabas near their colleges.
This one too is courtesy the Commonwealth Games.
As part of the beautification and the overall streetscaping projects undertaken in and around the Games venues, the authorities have decided to close down all the roadside dhabas and shoo away small-time vendors.
Apart from the hostellers, daily scholars depend heavily on these eateries for their food, snacks and drinks. So not just the students,u00a0 even the vendors are complaining that they would incur huge losses as they have to shut-shop for about a month.
Akhtar Ali, who runs a lemonade kiosk near the main gate of Arts Faculty for the past 12 years, is extremely disappointed.
"I earn my daily bread and butter from this business only. How am I going to sustain my family if I would close down for about a month," he told MiD DAY.
"The Games are important for the country but the government should have provided us with some alternative arrangement. It's tough to survive on the small savings for a month," said Rajesh Kumar, who owns a cubicle Maggie stall outside the Faculty of Law.
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The students are equally cross with the government. Having lost out on the hostels and paying exorbitant sums to PGs around the varsity, they allege that the authorities have also devoid them of affordable food.
"We have already been finding it hard to afford the PGs and now we will also have to dole out big sums of money for food. This has become all the more rotten for us as the easy-to-get filling food like paranthas and my preferred 'chhole kulche' are soon to disappear from the campus," said Vikas Sinha, an outstation student at Ramjas College.u00a0u00a0
"Managing food at odd hours without the always-available stalls is going to be very tough," said a disappointed Sushovan Saha of Hansraj College.
| Double whammy |
| Even as Delhi University students ufffd made to stay away from hostels in the name of the Commonwealth Games ufffd take up expensive accommodation outside, their colleges will be making a quick buck from renting out those hostel rooms. College principals have received letters from the UGC asking them to fix room tariffs for the upcoming Delhi Games. The rooms will be let out as budget accommodation to tourists expected to visit the city for the Games. |
