look news india
Delhi Government, Delhi Police and Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) have jointly taken a major step regarding the security and basic living facilities of lakhs of students coming to Delhi from all over the country to prepare for competitive examinations and for higher education. Mandatory ‘Digital Mapping’ will now be done for all private paying guest (PG) and hostels operating in major coaching hubs and university areas like Mukherjee Nagar, Old Rajendra Nagar, Karol Bagh, Satya Niketan, Kalu Sarai and Laxmi Nagar. Under this initiative, an integrated web portal and dashboard is being created, where complete details of every registered PG in Delhi—such as room size, student capacity, rent, building plan and safety certificate—will be publicly available. The main objective of this step is to curb illegally running unsafe PGs, operators charging arbitrary rent and ignoring safety standards.
Before launching the scheme on the ground, the joint task force constituted by the administration has conducted surprise inspection of more than 100 PGs and hostels in different parts of Delhi within the last 72 hours (3 days). This special investigation team included officials from MCD’s Building Department, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), district administration and local police. Several shocking and serious deficiencies were revealed during the inspection:
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In many multi-storey buildings, 3 to 4 students were accommodated in a single small room without proper ventilation and emergency exits.
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Illegal hostels and libraries were found running by making temporary constructions on basements and rooftops without permission.
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More than 60% of the inspected premises did not have valid Fire Safety NOC or No Objection Certificate from Delhi Fire Department.
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Immediate sealing notices have been issued to more than 20 illegal PGs in flagrant violation of standards and other operators have been given an ultimatum of 7 days to improve.
A new proposal based on the inspection report has been placed before the Lieutenant Governor and the Home Department to ensure the safety of students, especially girl students. Under this draft:
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Mandatory CCTV Coverage: It will be mandatory to install high-definition (HD) night vision CCTV cameras at the main entrance, reception, common area, stairs and external road of every PG premises.
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Minimum 30 days backup: It will be made mandatory for all operators to keep secure data of video recordings for at least 30 days.
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Linkage to Police Monitoring: The proposal also recommends that the live feed of external cameras of PG premises be linked to the surveillance network of local police stations or Safe City Command Centre, so that suspicious activities can be directly monitored during night time and any untoward incident can be prevented in time.
The administration has directed to make 100% police verification mandatory from the local police station for all support staff working in PGs—like wardens, cooks, sweepers and security guards. Under the new security rules, PG operators will have to submit the updated register of all the students staying in the local police station every month. Additionally, a dedicated ‘Helpline Number’ and ‘Online Grievance Redressal Mechanism’ is also being integrated with this mapping platform for quick redressal of complaints like harassment of students, sudden confiscation of security deposit and unreasonable fare increase.
Officials of MCD and Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) have made it clear that this is not just a symbolic action, but a regular campaign. In the coming weeks, an intensive testing campaign will also be conducted in other residential areas around North and South Campus. The administration has warned in clear words that any landlord or operator found putting the lives of students at risk by violating business rules and safety standards in residential properties, their premises will be sealed with immediate effect and an FIR will be registered against the owners under non-bailable sections.