Deen Dayal Upadhyaya college students protest against 'poor' hostel facilities

Students of Delhi University's Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College held a protest against "poor" hostel facilities, including "lack" of potable water and non-functional Wifi.

The students said they sat on a peaceful protest from Wednesday 10 pm.

"Mess food is not matching even the minimum quality levels. We are not allowed to receive food ordered from outside after 10 pm. Restrictions on girls' hostel is more than boys' hostel and sexism is rampant in the campus," the students alleged.

They also alleged that due to "poor drinking water facilities" in the college hostel they have been falling sick.

"We demand a review of the restrictive rules imposed on girls and boys hostels including the curfew timings. We also demand extension of library timings for hostel residents," students said.

They demanded that the Wifi which "has been out of service since the beginning of this academic session and for which we were made to pay large sums of money" be restored.

College principal Hem Chand Jain held discussion with the students on Thursday and assured them that some of their demands will be looked into, following which the protest was withdrawn.

Jain said, "The Wifi instrument is not working and I have been pursuing the Delhi government to get it repaired. I have got approval for its repair and it will be done in the next one or two days.

"As for the allowing food delivery boys after 10 pm, we cannot do that since it is the question of safety and security of our girl students," he said.

The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College is one of the 12 Delhi University colleges which are fully funded by the Delhi government, and have been facing fund crisis owing to the standoff between the university and the government over formation of governing bodies.