Unavailability of hostels compels girls to live in cramped, unhygienic conditions

Girls from all over the country are lured to Delhi colleges every year. But with the unavailability of hostel accommodation, they are left scampering for a roof over their head in conditions which are often unhygienic and exploitative, reveals a study conducted by the Delhi Commission for Women, DCW.

Dumped in cubby holes obtained through brokers at exorbitant rates, the young girls live in dirty and unsafe conditions. They are financially exploited both by estate agents and landlords, many times being vulnerable to harrassment and rising crime.

The reason girls are forced to look for such options is the paucity of college hostels. The college hostels are packed and no new hostels are coming up. Efforts to increase the capacity of existing hostels have been made by putting additional beds (up to four) in a single room. But this has hardly solved the problem because colleges receive seven to eight times more applicants now.

College principals admit that the demand for hostels was at least five to six times more than the availability, leaving unaccommodated girls in a great fix.

The massive strain on college facilities is due to a marked increase in the number of college-going girls. According to the report, from about 8,000 female students in the 1960s, the number has increased to 100,594 in 1995-96, (including evening colleges and non-formal cells). Of these, 45,657 girls went to regular colleges. There were 8,824 girls in post graduate studies.

Over the years, the five prominent girls colleges, Miranda House, Lady Shri Ram, Indraprastha, Lady Irwin and Daulat Ram, have tried to expand their existing hostel facilities. Despite this hundreds are still left with hostel accommodation. This was hardly avoidable, as the principal of the Lady Shri Ram college explained. With 50 per cent of the 1,828 students coming from out of town and a hostel capacity of approximately 300, 614 students were left to look for alternate arrangements.

The university hostel for women with a capacity for 274 currently houses 345 girls. However, it is the plight of girls staying out outside these hostels which the report has focused on, and come up with startling revelations.

Cashing on the burgeoning demand for student accommodation, homeowners near the university campuses and colleges have started letting out rooms at exorbitant rates. Since profit is the motive, the landlords try to get the maximum mileage out of their properties. In cubby holes, worse than a store, are cramped 4-6 beds without any cupboard or desk.

Since a bulk of these students are from Bihar, the North-East and Orissa and are gullible strangers to Delhi, they are taken for a ride by the property dealers and landlords.

The accommodation is almost always without meals and the girls have to eat out which besides being expensive, is unhealthy. Students have many times complained of lack of security. Reports of drunken men knocking at the door of the girl's rooms in the middle of the night were common. Even the streets are not safe for girl students with harassment from individuals or groups of men being a common occurrence in these areas.

Considering the increasing crime rate in the capital, these innocent girls become targets of eve teasing, molestation and rape. With no proper supervision, some girls get misled and land up in trouble.

The study revealed that girls were often cramped in small 8 by 8 feet rooms and paying rents up to Rs 2,400. In many places they even bought their own folding cots. With several cots stuck together, there was no place to walk and neither any place for a desk or almirah. The accommodation was dingy, without any cross ventilation or greenery.

In south Delhi where colleges are scattered all over, real estate was much more expensive. Here, the girls were paying up to Rs 5,000 for cramped space.

The study recommended the construction of more hostels in the girls colleges. It noted that although most had enough open space for a hostel building, it was the staff quarters that gained priority over hostels.

The study suggested that it should also be mandatory for homeowners, who rent rooms to students, to register with a body at the university or with various colleges, to enable some sort of check to ensure the wellbeing of the students.