New Delhi: Education minister Ashish Sood Thursday said Delhi govt will use vacant and under-utilised govt land and buildings in the city to create student hostels.
“Where there is suitable space or suitable govt property, we will examine its use for student accommodation,” Sood said. “We will explore unused buildings in Narela and set up bus connectivity to educational hubs, if it suits students. The policy to regulate PGs and coaching centres will also solve a lot of problems. The same day, LG Taranjit Singh Sandhu approved the constitution of a high-powered committee on student accommodation and safety to provide overarching policy direction, ensure inter-departmental and inter-agency coordination, and monitor time-bound measures for ensuring safe, secure and adequate accommodation for students pursuing higher education in Delhi. The committee includes Delhi chief secretary, commissioner of police, MCD commissioner, NDMC chairman, DDA vice-chairman and vice-chancellors of Delhi University , Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Ambedkar University Delhi and Netaji Subhas University of Technology, apart from other senior officials.
At the Sept 7 meeting, LG had directed the education minister to lead a committee of senior officials to review institutional and PG guidelines, explore alternative student accommodation through universities, MCD and DDA, and assess the feasibility of using unutilised or vacant DDA, MCD and other govt buildings for student accommodation. The committee will examine the feasibility of using vacant or under-utilised DDA housing and other suitable govt properties as student accommodation, subject to applicable rules. It will also identify govt land and buildings that could be used to develop additional hostels or student residences. Another part of its mandate is to suggest measures for developing a centralised database of student accommodation facilities in Delhi. This would cover institutional hostels and, where legally and administratively feasible, registered paying guest accommodations. Safety protocols will form another major part of the exercise. The panel will prescribe standard emergency evacuation and disaster-response protocols for student accommodation and devise a mechanism to ensure periodic fire and disaster mock drills and safety-awareness programmes for students, hostel wardens, university officials and PG operators.