New Delhi: At 4pm, there was little reason for the police personnel waiting in Karol Bagh to expect a crowd. They had picked a spot surrounded by coaching centres and paying guest accommodations, knowing students would return from classes later in the evening. For now, the road carried its usual traffic, but the students they wanted to speak to were still scattered across the neighbourhood.
Students were told they could contact him directly if they faced a problem or noticed something requiring police attention. DCP (Central) Rohit Rajbir Singh said teams from police stations across the city were reaching out to students, PG residents and coaching hubs to understand their concerns. The wait was part of a new Delhi Police approach to reach out to students living in PGs and rented accommodation, particularly in coaching hubs. The move has gained urgency after the Satya Niketan building collapse, which heightened concerns about their safety. The first thing the SHO did was share his phone number. It wasn’t just about fire extinguishers, emergency exits or the building’s condition; it was also about what hung overhead, what collected on the road after rain, and what happened on the street outside. For the students gathered around the SHO, the exercise offered something significant: they now had a number to call before a concern became a complaint, or a complaint became an emergency. The Karol Bagh interaction was not a one-off exercise. Where an issue belongs to another agency, police are taking it up with the department concerned.