A part of a ceiling of Room No. 105 at Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College collapsed on August 30, while a lecture was being held. The incident left at least four students injured, who were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.
Soon after the collapse, the police reached the campus to take stock of the situation. Meanwhile, about 200 students staged a two-hour long protest outside the administration block of the college, demanding the reconstruction and renovation for the building.
On August 31, an emergency meeting of the Teachers’ Association was held in which a resolution was passed to suspend classes till the administration took substantial steps to renovate and reconstruct the building.
This incident isn’t the first at DRC, students have seen several infrastructure-related problems earlier as well, including – lack of access to clean and functioning washrooms, insufficient number of water coolers on campus, and no access to WiFi services. Moreover, damaged ceilings and walls are commonplace across the campus.
These problems were brought to the administration’s attention earlier as well, however, they either choose to ignore it or blame the governing body of the college, which is responsible for financial sanctions and approvals for renovation of the college. “The issue of inadequate infrastructure has been raised several times in the past, even a protest was organised earlier this month to bring the infrastructure problems to light, but the governing body of the college chose not to hear and no action was taken,” said a student at DRC.
Representatives from the administrative body at DRC were not available for comment neither has any official statement been released regarding the incident. An official emergency meeting with the governing body of the college, along with an interactive session with the parents, teachers and students is due to be held on September 2, this being the first meeting in which the governing body has agreed to participate in.
