Delhi University teachers on Sunday urged the city government to agree to the demands -- including implementation of the Rent Control Act and right to accommodation -- raised by students in the capital from across the country.
Supporting the Delhi Room Rent Control Movement -- an initiative started by university students to seek right to accommodation, the Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) has sought provision of basic facilities for students.
DUTA said even as the students manage to secure admissions in various Delhi University colleges, the university has "not felt the need to provide them minimal boarding and lodging facilities and the safety required to pursue higher studies under such trying conditions".
"Despite the fact that the DU Act (Section 33) provides for every student's accommodation as a compulsory duty of the university, the DU administration remains indifferent," the DUTA said in a statement.
"Hence, an estimated one lakh-plus students of this university are forced to live in rooms or small tenements that have been rented privately."
"The DUTA also urges the HRD (ministry for human resource development) to increase the financial outlay for the necessary infrastructure and to ensure that the DU administration complies with Section 33 of the DU Act," the statement said.
Other demands include setting up of public libraries, food-stalls for subsidised meals and water ATMs.
These students, the statement said, were being exploited and harassed by landlords and private property-dealers who charge exorbitant rents which are frequently increased.
DUTA also said that since the problem has been been growing for the last few years, many students' organisations have been demanding the Right to Accommodation but neither the varsity nor the Delhi government "felt the need to do anything to bring them even a modicum of relief".
"The absence of standardised rent, the landlords' unwillingness to issue receipts or undertake general maintenance of the rooms/tenements given out on rent, and the lack of basic amenities have compelled the students to launch a city-wide movement to demand implementation of the Delhi Rent Control Act," it said.
Supporting the initiative, the DUTA also asked students and teachers to join the walkathons being held around the city to raise public awareness on the issue.
