New Delhi: Classrooms and other facilities in several Delhi University colleges were turned into temporary shelters Monday as institutions suspended classes and opened their campuses to students displaced after the PG building collapse in South Delhi’s Satya Niketan.
The university has offered the AICTE guest house to parents who need accommodation while visiting Delhi, officials said. We have come looking for them,” said Harshika, a first-year Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College student. Ananya, an Odisha student staying in the building next to the one that collapsed, said her building had tilted and was subsequently vacated. I immediately realised the building had collapsed, so I ran for my life and came out,” she said. The college principal Vajala Ravi said he slept with displaced students brought to the campus. We are doing all we can to help the students,” he said.
DU has directed colleges to check their admission rolls, identify students living in the affected area and reach out to them to shift to the campus for their safety. Venkateswara College, Motilal Nehru College, Jesus and Mary College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Maitreyi College, Ram Lal Anand College, Bhagat Singh College and Aryabhatta College, among others, have issued these notices offering shelter and food support to the students. A WhatsApp group of college principals and South Campus director Rajni Abbi has also been set up to share updates and coordinate assistance. Female students have been allowed to take shelter in any college, while male students are being accommodated at their respective colleges after ID verification. Colleges have issued helpline numbers for students seeking food and shelter. NCC teams from several colleges also appealed for donations of water, food and bedsheets and distributed supplies at the site. At the collapse site, student volunteers from nearby colleges searched for classmates believed to have been living in the collapsed building. “Our college WhatsApp group shared six profiles of senior students from our college. Students living in adjoining buildings were also forced to leave. “There was a sudden huge noise. I opened the window and saw a huge cloud of dust. Her parents have since asked her to return home. At Venkateswara, a student who narrowly escaped the collapse broke down and was taken to a counsellor. “These are old buildings that have become dangerous….