St Stephen's has room for students

College won't hand over residential blocks to Commonwealth Games committee immediately, hostel facilities remain available

College won't hand over residential blocks to Commonwealth Games committee immediately, hostel facilities remain available

Be it students' elections or the admissions process, St Stephen's has always set its own rules. This time the college has made its position clear to the UGC and the Commonwealth Games Committee that residential facilities will be available to students as usual from the commencement of the new session till the end of the first term.

The decision comes in wake of media reports about the unavailability of hostel accommodation in various colleges of Delhi University from the starting of the next academic cycle.

Nandita Narain, media adviser, St Stephen's College said, "In our college, residential facilities will be available to students as usual from the commencement of the new session till the end of the first term. Thereafter, during the academic break announced by the university authorities, our residence facilities will be handed over to the Commonwealth Games Committee for their use during the Games."

Hostel-ities

With no hostel accommodation, students will be looking towards paying guest accommodations. But these will not come cheap as the owners of the PGs are already charging hefty amounts. Their demands have shot up since the second and third year students will also be availing these accommodations. This has led to sharp rise in flat rents in the adjoining areas. The price has risen from Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,500 for a twin-sharing room in areas such as Roop Nagar, Vijay Nagar and Hudson Lane.

"When the second term commences after the academic break, the rooms will once again be made available to our students," she added.

The college cited unavailability of bursar, the college financial officer, as the reason for not renovating the six residential blocks and handing them over to the Commonwealth Games committee. The college also emphasised that more than one-third of its students are from outside Delhi and are given residential facilities. Displacing them during the academic term would cripple the functioning of the college.

Abhishek Kumar, a student seeking admission at St Stephen's this year said, "I am glad that the college thought about the students seeking admission in the first year. Staying in the hostel in the initial days is more enjoyable."

As many as six DU colleges have asked students to vacate the hostels by the end of this month to make these buildings fit for Commonwealth athletes.