‘VC go back!’ shout DU students, demand safety reforms, more hostels

A recent event at Delhi University’s Faculty of Arts was marked by protests and slogan shouting against Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh.  

Students accused the DU administration of insensitivity for not announcing an official mourning after the death of at least five students following a building collapse housing them in Satya Niketan. The building, which offered private PG accommodation to DU students came crashing down on 6 September. It has also displaced hundreds of students living in such rickety structures near their colleges because of lack of beds in the college hostels.

The protesters, led by members of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) raised demands for enhanced student safety, structural audits of private accommodations, and the expansion of affordable university hostel facilities.

Demonstrators shouted slogans like "VC go back" and "PG hostel do" inside the auditorium before security and police intervened and escorted protesting members out. 

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party has alleged that BJP MLA Anil Sharma is protecting illegal PG accommodations in Satya Niketan and demanded a probe into his properties.

Addressing a press conference, AAP leaders Sanjeev Jha, Kuldeep Kumar and Anurag Dhanda questioned how Sharma came to own a large property in the area when, according to them, 1986 land records showed that his father had been allotted 307 square yards.

They demanded that any demolition drive against illegal PGs should begin with Sharma's property.

Sharma, who represents the RK Puram constituency under which Satya Niketan falls, rejected the allegations, saying the land was his ancestral property and claimed to have the registry and sale deed of the property.