Students' parliament voices DU grievances

Over 100 members of National Students Union of India (NSUI) of Delhi University (DU) from various colleges participated in a students’ parliament and discussed problems the students face.

NSUI members and president of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) were also present.

“Students are not provided with basic facilities. It is a central university, but there
is hardly any system,” said Amrish Ranjan Pandey, spokesperson NSUI.

Hike in exam, hostel fees

Many students spoke against the hike in examination and college hostel fees.

“In all the course examination fees, there has been over 50 per cent hike. For a few courses it’s even 100 per cent. If a student is even one day late to pay the fee, he has to pay a huge fine. This university has many students coming from the underprivileged backgrounds. How can they cope with the fee hike every year?” asked a member from Ramjas College.

The students also stressed on uniformity in cycle rickshaw rates in the campus and lowering the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) fares where the distance is a few kilometres.

“The DTC bus fare is Rs 5 for even a five-minute journey. When we tell the officials to lower prices of these basic things so that it does not affect the poor students, they tell
us to look at the private universities which charge high fees. But it is a Central university, it has to be subsidised,” said Pandey.

The discussion also focused on women's security issue in the campus.

 “Women students should feel absolutely safe. Recently, two students outside Stephen’s College were robbed at knife point in the evening. If this is the situation in the evening it will be difficult to walk out in the night, especially for women students who live in the campus,” said another member.

With the inclusion of Other Backward Classes (OBC) category reservation, the infrastructure problem has aggravated.

Space crunch

“There is no space in the research building for students to experiment. The laboratories are overcrowded,” added the member.

The union members had earlier submitted a memorandum of demands raising similar concerns to the vice chancellor.

“We are waiting for a reply from the VC as he said that something will be worked out regarding the demands. If there is no response in another four or five days, we will visit him again,” said Pandey.

However, the VC could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
“He is out of town and will be back by April 12”, said an official from his office.
A senior official said the demands are genuine and talks are on regarding the demands.