Deadlines at hostels, safety hiccups in PGs

Amarjot Kaur

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 24

Stuck between the mountain and the deep sea, college or university-going students in the city have yet not found the sweet spot that offers them a deadline-free accommodation and takes responsibility for their safety too.

If genuine pricing seals the deal for them at paying guest lodgings, a compromise must be made on space and security. At college hostels, merit assumes priority, but the evening deadline could mean saying goodbye to a hobby class.

In the wake of the fire incident at a PG home in Sector 32, students are now beginning to question the Administration over the “unfixed” rates of PGs and the absence of security standards at commercially-run residential buildings.

Coming all the way from Ludhiana, Vanshika Sood (19), a student at SD College, resides in a PG home in Sector 32. She shells out Rs 5,000 a month for a 2 BHK room being shared by three girls. She says, “The total cost of that place is Rs 15,000. When I came here in the beginning, I was shocked to see the conditions of PGs. I chose to stay in a PG because I have a dance class in the evening. Had I stayed in a hostel, I would have to quit dancing. I have had friends who stayed in shanties, under asbestos sheets, which have been banned in many countries. The Administration doesn’t care enough.”

Yukti Bhatia from Yamunanagar, a BA final-year student at the college, shares: “Not everyone can get a room in college hostels, since there’s a merit-based system for that. Also, PGs are a welcome respite from the strict 6 pm hostel deadlines.” She adds: “Even in Muskan’s case, one of the victims, she had to stay in a PG because she wanted to do social work and the college deadlines were too much to deal with.”

Starting at Rs 7,000 for a basic room, you may have to shell out as much as Rs 14,000 a month for extra facilities for your child, like laundry and food, for them to stay in Chandigarh’s PG homes. Requesting anonymity, a student who once resided in House Number 3370, Sector 32, which she said was owned by Nitish Bansal, the owner of the PG house that caught fire on Saturday, said: “When I stayed there, I paid Rs 14,000 for a luxury room with food and laundry. Then, I moved to a flat in Sector 30. The construction was so old that the walls, even the hangings on them, would start shaking if the door wasn’t closed gently. There has to be some sort of safety audit and a uniform rate card for the size of accommodation, along with the services offered.”

Another girl, who studies in MCM College, Sector 36, but did not want to be named, said: “House owners have given their homes to people on lease to run PG accommodations. I was staying at a PG in Sector 20, which had PVC dividers and was sub-let by a couple. When I got to know that the person did not have the licence, I left the place.”