Rahul meets Satya Niketan collapse victim’s kin, flags hostel shortage

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met the family of 21-year-old Arpit Jaj, a student from Madhya Pradesh who was among seven people killed in the Satya Niketan building collapse in Delhi earlier this month.

Rahul Gandhi invited Arpit’s family on stage during his youth outreach programme, ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’, in Indore and attributed the tragedy to inadequate government infrastructure and a shortage of hostels for students.

“If there had been adequate hostels in the government sector and the education budget had not been cut, this incident would never have happened,” Rahul Gandhi said.

A multi-storey building housing paying guest accommodation in Delhi’s Satya Niketan area collapsed on 6 September, killing seven people, including students, and injuring seven others.

Arpit, a native of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, had left for Delhi on 5 September after celebrating Raksha Bandhan and Janmashtami with his family. The building collapsed a few hours after his arrival.

His family lost contact with him following the collapse. His body was identified on 7 September.

Arpit’s elder sister Priyanshi criticised what she described as the “irresponsible attitude of a failed system” and questioned why her brother had to stay in an expensive paying guest accommodation away from home to pursue higher education.

“Was it my brother’s fault that he was living in an expensive PG accommodation away from his hometown for higher education?” she said.

Priyanshi also alleged that the building had been constructed illegally and said no strict action had been taken even 13 days after the collapse.

The family said they faced considerable difficulties in locating Arpit’s body after the incident.

Arpit’s father, a taxi driver, recalled his son’s aspirations and said his dreams had remained unfulfilled.

Rahul Gandhi’s remarks came as he criticised the government’s education infrastructure, linking the lack of affordable student accommodation to the circumstances in which students are forced to live while studying away from their hometowns.

With PTI inputs