New Delhi: Narrow lanes hemmed in by multi-storey buildings with as many as five floors, rooms with little ventilation, blocked balconies, a single staircase serving scores of residents and a maze of overhead wires — the conditions that preceded the Saidulajab building collapse are not unique.A reality check across Delhi’s major student hubs by TOI found similar conditions in several localities housing thousands of youths.In Mukherjee Nagar, where SSC aspirants can rent rooms for as little as Rs 6,000 a month, a five-storey PG with large coolers fitted to its balconies — the only source of ventilation — stood out. While tiled exteriors in such buildings make many of them appear newer than they are, residents said several of them are ageing structures with questionable internal strength and maintenance.Rajendra Nagar presented a similar picture. “The PGs here are the only option for us because of their proximity to coaching centres,” said Vantara (26), an UPSC aspirant. Students also pointed to basement accommodations that continue to be rented out despite the scrutiny following the loss of three lives in the flooded basement of a coaching centre in 2024.In south Delhi’s Jia Sarai and Katwaria Sarai, while the buildings along the main road are generally two- or three-storey high and house eateries and shops, deeper inside the locality stand structures rising five or more floors. Their balconies are so close to one another that residents of facing buildings can easily shake hands.“When I first came to Delhi three years ago, I paid around Rs 5,000 for a matchbox of a room that I shared with another person. At that time, I somehow managed, but now I know I can never live like that again,” said Alka, a 27-year-old aspiring professor.Residents pointed to several PG buildings that appeared to have additional floors constructed later. Among them was a five-storey girls’ PG with a tiled exterior, while the top floor had a totally different look because it was a recent addition, effectively making the building a six-storey structure.Students said a typical PG building in the area has four to five floors with at least five rooms on each floor. With students sharing many of the rooms, scores of residents end up staying in a single building served by just one staircase that functions as both the entry and exit point.Urvashi Yadav (24) from Madhya Pradesh, who is preparing for NET, showed TOI her room and said, “I pay Rs 4,000 rent. I know the room is suffocating, but I have nothing else to do. Rooms are unaffordable elsewhere.”Kuldeep Meena from Rajasthan and Devanshu from Gujarat, both MTech students at IIT-Delhi, said many students of the institute depend on accommodation in Jia Sarai and neighbouring Katwaria Sarai because of their proximity to the campus. “There is a hostel on the campus, but the allotment works through a lottery and it is very difficult to get a room. Because of that, many students rely on these areas,” they said.The two also pointed out that sunlight barely reaches many of the narrow lanes in these localities because of how closely packed the buildings stand. Fire-safety measures are largely absent, they claimed, with no extinguishers in several buildings and clusters of tangled overhead electrical wires, which frequently spark during the monsoon.
