DU south campus faces bus crunch

A year has passed since the second-year Delhi University (DU) student, Radhika Tanwar, was killed in broad daylight while on her way college

DU south campus faces bus crunch

Au00a0year has passed since the second-year Delhi University (DU) student, Radhika Tanwar, was killed in broad daylight while on her way college. Nothing, however, has been done to ensure safe and secure transport facilities for students.u00a0

V-C Dinesh Singh at his office in north campus. Pic/Subhash Barolia

Tanwar was shot on the Satyaniketan foot-over bridge, while she was on her way to Ram Lal Anand (RLA) College. Earlier this year, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) had made the tall promises of providing a bus service from Jor Bagh metro station to Satyaniketan, and all south campus colleges, beginning the 2011 academic session.u00a0

Students of RLA, Motilal Nehru (MLN), Sri Venkateswara, and Atma Ram Sanatan Dharm (ARSD) colleges have been facing acute shortage of transportation facilities. The going is especially tough for students of evening courses, as it gets dark by the time the classes get over. MiD DAY had raised this issue earlier.

Transport woes
RLA College (Eve) president Kumar Pranav is furious with the authorities.u00a0u00a0"We had given an application to the college authorities for the required DTC bus service in January. The request was forwarded to the DTC, to which they replied in April, saying the buses will be available from July. But there are no buses. Evening colleges such as RLA and MLN have nearly 3,000 students, including a good number of girls, who find it really difficult to commute. Even after repeated complaints, the principal refuses to respond," he said.u00a0
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Meanwhile, the university authorities claimed they do not have funds for bus service. Deputy Dean (south campus) Dinesh C Varshney said, "Everything had been finalised a long time ago. But we are facing financial and technical problems. Though a few south campus colleges are ready to invest on their own, the process will drain them of all the funds."

To add insult to the injury, there is only one DTC bus pass counter for thousands of students in the campus. "We have requested for good quality printers to open another counter. The DTC officials have assured us they are looking into the matter. Students will have to wait till then," said Varshney.

The other side
DTC chief general manager (traffic operations) A K Goel said, "Regarding the bus service and security, we have had meetings with the university heads. We will start the service as soon as they give us the intimation. We will try to fixu00a0 the bus counter as soon as possible." Despite repeated attempts, Dr Hemlata Reddy and Dr Savita Dutta, principals of Sri Venketeshwara College and Maietryi College, respectively, did not respond.u00a0
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V-C's take
Vice-chancellor Professor Dinesh Singh said, "A few days ago, while speaking to director (south), I came to know that they are about to complete the process. I am confident, the service will begin soon."