We, the students and members of the Delhi University community, call upon the authorities to take immediate and meaningful action to address the severe shortage of safe, affordable and adequately regulated student accommodation in and around Delhi University.

The collapse of a student accommodation building in Satya Niketan on 6 September 2026 is a tragic reminder of the risks faced by students who are dependent on private accommodation. Students come to Delhi from across the country to pursue their education, yet many are unable to secure university hostel accommodation and are left with little choice but to depend on private PGs and rented accommodation.

For students from outside Delhi, housing is not a luxury. It is a basic necessity for accessing education. When university accommodation is insufficient, students are pushed into an expensive and largely private housing market where they may have to pay substantial amounts simply for a bed in a shared room. Families with limited financial resources are placed under additional pressure, while students may be forced to compromise on safety, hygiene, privacy and their ability to focus on their education.

The problem is not simply that private accommodation is expensive. The larger problem is that students often have too few affordable alternatives.

Delhi University is a public university and student housing should therefore be treated as an essential part of educational infrastructure. The university cannot address access to education only through classrooms and academic facilities while leaving thousands of students to navigate an inadequate and expensive housing market on their own.

We recognise that Delhi University has taken steps towards expanding residential infrastructure, including its ongoing residential project intended to accommodate 1,436 students. However, given the scale of the university and the number of students who require accommodation, substantially greater investment and long-term planning are necessary.

We therefore call upon the authorities to take the following measures:

1. Conduct immediate and comprehensive structural, fire-safety, sanitation and occupancy audits of major student accommodation areas surrounding Delhi University campuses, particularly areas with a high concentration of PGs and rented accommodation.
2. Take strict action against accommodation providers operating unsafe or seriously overcrowded buildings and ensure that safety regulations are properly enforced.
3. Significantly expand Delhi University's hostel capacity through the construction of new hostels and large-scale student residential facilities across North Campus, South Campus and other university colleges and centres wherever feasible.
4. Ensure that university hostels remain affordable through subsidised fees, particularly for students from economically weaker and lower-income families.
5. Establish minimum standards for safety, hygiene, sanitation, fire protection, security, maintenance and occupancy in all university hostels.
6. Make hostel allocation transparent by publishing clear information regarding eligibility, capacity, vacancies, applications and the allocation process.
7. Develop a long-term student housing policy for Delhi University with clear targets, timelines and publicly available progress reports for increasing hostel capacity.
8. Treat student accommodation as essential university infrastructure and include adequate housing in the planning of future expansion and development of the university.

The purpose of this petition is not to demand luxury accommodation. It is to demand that students have access to a safe and dignified place to live while pursuing their education.

No student should have to choose between paying an unaffordable amount for private accommodation and living in a place where their safety may be compromised. No family should have to bear an unreasonable financial burden simply because their child has been admitted to a university far from home. And no student should have to put their education at risk because they cannot find a safe and affordable place to live.

The tragedy in Satya Niketan must not become another incident that generates public outrage for a few days and is then forgotten. It should be a turning point in how Delhi University and the concerned authorities approach student housing and accommodation safety.

We therefore urge the University of Delhi and the relevant authorities to take immediate, transparent and measurable action to expand safe and affordable student accommodation and to ensure that the safety of students is never treated as secondary to cost or convenience.

Students come to Delhi University to study and build their futures. They deserve a safe place to live while doing so.

We call upon the authorities to act now.