Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
The deaths of seven students in the collapse of a PG building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan have raised serious questions about the safety of PGs and rental accommodation available to students across the capital. While the government and civic authorities have announced structural audits of buildings across Delhi and promised action against those responsible, an India Today ground investigation has found that rooms are still being offered to students in buildings around the collapse site despite visible safety concerns.
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PG BUSINESS CONTINUES AFTER DEADLY COLLAPSE
Soon after the Satya Niketan building collapse, the India Today team surveyed PG accommodations in and around the area. Around 100 metres from the collapse site, a broker, Dhanraj from Sai Properties, showed the team rooms in a five-storey PG building.
The rooms, measuring around 8×10 feet, were offered for Rs 9,000 to Rs 12,000 per month without air conditioning and Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 for AC rooms.
The broker said tenants would have to pay one month’s rent as advance, 15 days’ brokerage and agree to a minimum six-month lock-in period.
But the bigger concern was the condition of the building. The staircase did not have adequate lighting, while dampness was visible on the walls and water could be seen leaking from pipelines at several points.
The broker also told the team on camera that several students were looking for new accommodation after leaving their old PGs following the building collapse in Satya Niketan.
5 FLOORS ON A 50-SQUARE-YARD PLOT
The India Today team also visited the narrow lanes of Moti Bagh village, where a landlord, Veerwati, and her son Naveen showed the team a room located on the fifth floor of a building.
The lanes in the area are so narrow that there are serious questions over whether fire engines or ambulances would be able to reach the buildings quickly in an emergency.
Local residents said additional floors have been added to several old houses over the years. Such construction raises questions about whether the original structure and foundation were designed to bear the additional load.
CLAIM OF OVER 200 PGs IN 299 HOUSES
An old property broker in the area, Om, told the India Today team about the scale of the PG business in Satya Niketan. He claimed that there are around 299 houses in the area and that more than 200 of them are being operated as commercial PGs.
According to Om, additional floors have been constructed on several houses that are 15-20 years old. He also claimed that balconies and roof projections have been extended to create additional space.
If these claims are accurate, the issue goes beyond the safety of one building and raises wider questions about building safety and monitoring of unauthorised construction across the locality.
QUESTIONS OVER MCD ACTION AFTER COLLAPSE
The administration has announced action following the Satya Niketan tragedy and spoken about conducting structural audits. But questions remain over why regular monitoring did not prevent additional floors, PG operations and commercial activity from continuing in areas where such practices have reportedly existed for years.
- Did the MCD not know about these constructions?
- If it did, why was action not taken?
- And if action was taken, how did such buildings and PGs continue to operate?
The questions assume greater significance after the Delhi High Court directed the MCD to conduct a high-level inquiry into whether the collapsed building had been constructed with valid permissions. The court also asked the civic body to fix responsibility on officials if violations are found and sought an audit of PG hostels to determine whether they comply with building permissions and bylaws.
STUDENTS’ HOSTEL SHORTAGE ADDS TO THE PROBLEM
Students from across the country come to Delhi to study at universities and colleges. With limited hostel accommodation, many are forced to depend on private PGs and rented rooms.
Faced with high rents and limited options, students often prioritise affordability, proximity to their colleges and basic facilities. Assessing the structural safety of a building is neither easy nor, in many cases, possible for a student looking for accommodation.
This is where operators of unsafe or allegedly unauthorised PGs can potentially exploit the demand.
The Delhi High Court has also stressed the need for more student hostels, observing that PGs can be dangerous to students’ lives and safety and asking the government and Delhi University to “double down” on efforts to provide hostel facilities.
WHO WILL REGULATE THE ‘DEATH TRAPS’?
The Satya Niketan collapse has left behind a larger question: will authorities act only after a tragedy, or identify dangerous buildings before lives are lost?
If PGs are operating without adequate safety measures, additional floors are being constructed and large numbers of students are being housed in buildings located along narrow lanes, responsibility cannot begin and end with a post-tragedy inquiry.
The real test of the government’s proposed structural audits will be whether they remain confined to paperwork or reach the numerous PGs and buildings where students continue to live every day – potentially unaware of the surrounding risks.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
