In a city where students paid with lives, hostel projects stalled, crawling - The Indian Express

In May 2022, seven months after he took charge as Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Prof Yogesh Singh told a press conference that two 1,000-bed hostels — one each for men and women in postgraduate classes — would come up at the university’s Dhaka complex near North Campus within two years.

More than four years later, excavation is nearly all that has taken place at the site for one of these two projects. Work at the site began only in April this year, a project official said.

On September 7, the day after five students were killed in the building collapse in Satya Niketan, the Delhi High Court decried the “absolutely inadequate number of hostels” in DU, which it said forced students to stay in “very dangerous” paying guest (PG) accommodation “causing threat to [their] life and security”.

DU has been promising to address the shortage of student housing for years. But very little has moved during the tenure of Prof Singh, who became VC in October 2021. He begins a second five-year term next month.

The two hostels for men and women students promised by Singh in his 2022 press conference are stalled or crawling — so are at least four other housing projects for students announced during his tenure, records of the meetings of DU’s Executive Council (EC) and Building Committee, project documents, and planning approvals show.

The minutes of just one of the 24 EC meetings held in Singh’s tenure record a discussion on the student housing projects.

Mithuraaj Dhusiya, who has been on the EC since February 2025, told The Indian Express: “Before the [Satya Niketan] incident, there had been no serious discussion on hostel facilities as part of the agenda. The key agenda items have mostly been related to AC (Academic Council) decisions, disciplinary matters, ICC (Internal Complaints Committee) issues, ad hoc teachers, fee matters, and the opening of new colleges.”

Singh told The Indian Express on Monday that the requirement of clearances from multiple regulatory and administrative authorities had contributed to the delays.

Some of these projects are stuck waiting for funds or approvals. Others are yet to start. Three of the projects are in the Dhaka complex, with a combined proposed capacity of more than 3,000 beds. Three other projects are in South Campus.

STATUS: Construction began in April 2026; basement work underway. A top project official said that in a best-case scenario, completion is expected by 2028.

The project is being taken up under DU’s Institution of Eminence program, funded mainly by the Union Ministry of Education. Officials said that the project had been delayed by 31 months even before construction began.

The work that was awarded in September 2023 with completion targeted for March 2025, saw bhoomi poojan only in September 2025 — six months after the deadline for completion had passed. Continuous on‑ground work began in April 2026.

Officials attributed much of the delay to the need for clearances from agencies including the Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Urban Arts Commission, National Highways Authority of India, Airports Authority of India, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the Environment and Forest Department, Delhi Development Authority, and Municipal Corporation of Delhi. A wholesale revision of the project’s master plan layout was also required, a senior university official said.

On September 13, when The Indian Express visited the Dhaka complex site, workers were assembling the steel framework inside the foundation pit. The foundation slab had been cast and portions of retaining walls had been built.

A supervisor at the site said: “Once [the project management consultant] NBCC got the approvals, we began work in April this year.” According to this official, if work continues uninterrupted, the facility can be delivered in “another 20 to 24 months”.

However, a lot depends on curbs on construction that are expected after the air-pollution season begins in November, the official added.

A senior NBCC official said: “The project will take at least until 2028 for completion.”

Location: Dhaka complex Capacity: 1,050 seats Estimated cost: Rs 233.35 crore STATUS: The original proposal, to build accommodation for 700 women students belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), was approved by DU’s Finance Committee in October 2021.

The Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) — a joint venture of the Ministry of Education and Canara Bank established to channel market-based financing for capital assets in higher education institutions — approved a loan of Rs 161 crore for the project. The university said it would bear Rs 72.35 crore of the cost. Of this, Rs 64.68 crore has been released, but only Rs 1.7 crore had been utilised until April this year.

Officials said CPWD, the executing agency, would begin issuing various construction tenders for the complex in the coming weeks.

STATUS: Awaiting disbursal of funds from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the sole funding agency.

In March 2024, then Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani sanctioned Rs 272 crore for the project, records show. However, the records show that the progress of the project was not discussed at subsequent EC meetings.

The three-acre project is proposed to comprise two blocks of 500 beds each, with “enhanced security, CCTV surveillance and gender-sensitive amenities”. “The university is awaiting disbursal of funds from the Ministry of Women and Child Development,” a senior official said.

The project is to be funded through DU’s University Development Fund, but no money has been released so far, officials said. A land parcel adjacent to Geetanjali Hostel for Post Graduate Women on Benito Juarez Marg has been identified for the project and documentation work is ongoing, officials said.

Together, the New Hostel Building and the Geetanjali Hostel expansion are expected to add 150 seats. Geetanjali is one of the three university-run hostels at South Campus; the other two are the Saramati Post Graduate Men’s Hostel and the Aravali Post Graduate Men’s Hostel.

In August 2025, the Building Committee approved a conceptual proposal for the vertical extension of the two men’s hostels, and asked CPWD to prepare a plan, ensuring that no trees would have to be cut.

While CPWD indicated that increasing the height of Aravali hostel would not be feasible, Saramati hostel would be expanded as part of the long-term measures to increase housing, an official from the Engineering Department said.

This project too is to be funded through the University Development Fund, but no funds have been released yet. “The Executive Hostel is planned as a state-of-art-facility for the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) in South Campus,” the Engineering Department official said.

According to official figures, DU has 3,422 postgraduate hostel seats, while its colleges have another 3,788. The administration said another 1,622 university-level seats and 3,922 college-level seats are proposed, taking the combined capacity to 12,754.

More than 2.6 lakh students currently study in the university, a large percentage of whom are from outside Delhi and seek hostel accommodation.

Asked about the delay in the Dhaka complex and the status of the university’s residential projects, VC Singh said the university was taking steps to increase accommodation for students.

“Construction takes its own time because Delhi has various bodies from which clearances are needed. We are very hopeful that the projects will see fruition and we will be able to provide more residential accommodation to students by the next academic year,” he told The Indian Express on Monday.

On Tuesday, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the Delhi government will build hostels for 10,000 students studying in colleges and universities across the capital. “A large number of young people come to Delhi from different states to pursue higher education. After securing admission to colleges and universities, one of the biggest challenges they face is arranging safe and affordable accommodation,” she said.

After the building collapse in Satya Niketan, DU had said in an official statement: “Work on several new hostel projects is set to begin in the near future. The university has been working earnestly on hostel facilities over the past few years; as a result, the total number of hostel seats at DU is set to more than double within a span of 4-5 years.”

Sophiya Mathew is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She joined the Delhi bureau in 2024, and has specialization in Integrated Multimedia Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai. Professional Background Core Beats: Her reporting is primarily focused on the Environment and Education. Specialization: She has gained recognition for her ground-level reporting on the Yamuna floodplains and the socio-economic challenges faced by those living on its banks. She also focuses on the disparities in Delhi's education system, ranging from elite private schools to government institutions and refugee education. Recent Notable Articles (December 2025) Her recent work has been heavily centered on Delhi's severe winter pollution crisis and the government's regulatory responses: 1. The Air Pollution Crisis "A tale of two cities: Delhi govt schools choke in bad air, private classrooms set up air filters" (Dec 20, 2025): A high-impact feature contrasting the "Clean Air Bubbles" in elite schools with the reality of government school students who are exposed to an equivalent of 17 cigarettes a day due to outdoor exposure. "Delhi sees season's worst air day, second worst December AQI in nearly a decade" (Dec 15, 2025): An analytical report on the meteorological patterns trapping pollutants in the NCR. "Delhi bans non-BS VI vehicles from outside: Why curbing vehicular pollution is key" (Dec 17, 2025): Explaining the science behind targeting specific vehicle vintages to lower particulate matter. 2. Enforcement & Regulations "No fuel at pumps in Delhi without valid PUC certificate from December 18" (Dec 17, 2025): Breaking the news on the environment ministry's strict "No PUC, No Fuel" policy. 3. Education Policy "Law to regulate school fee in Delhi risks becoming procedural, say parents" (Dec 13, 2025): Investigating the loopholes in the new Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025. "Monsoon Session: Private school fee regulation Bill cleared after four-hour debate" (Aug 9, 2025): Covering the legislative passage of the controversial fee hike regulation. Signature Style Sophiya is known for her observational depth. Her reporting often includes vivid details from school corridors, hospital waitlists, or the banks of the Yamuna to illustrate how policy failures affect the city's most vulnerable residents. She is a frequent expert guest on the 3 Things podcast, where she explains the complexities of Delhi’s environmental laws. X (Twitter): @SophiyaMathew1 ... Read More