New Delhi: The Delhi government on Monday held a stakeholder consultation with PG owners as part of its ongoing exercise to frame a comprehensive regulatory policy for student accommodation, as Education Minister Ashish Sood said that the final regulatory framework and guideline will be introduce in coming weeks.

The meeting focused on understanding the operational perspectives of PG owners and operators, addressing their concerns and discussing ways to ensure student safety and basic living standards.

The government will introduce the final regulatory framework and guidelines in the coming weeks to safeguard the interests of more than six lakh students who migrate to the city every year, Sood said.

"Following the recent unfortunate incident in Delhi, the process of regulating PGs and formulating new laws for them is ongoing," Sood said.

He said that a few days ago, he had interacted with students and residents living in PG accommodations to understand their concerns and was now meeting PG operators, owners and managers to understand their perspectives.

"Before drafting any new law, our government is engaging with everyone through stakeholder consultations. This is true participatory governance," the minister said.

Sood said the government's priority was to ensure people had access to safe, secure, reliable and reasonably priced PG accommodation in Delhi.

"Over 600,000 students come to Delhi every year from various places. Providing safe housing to the majority of them who reside in PGs is our responsibility," he said.

The consultation was part of the government's wider exercise to formulate regulations for PG accommodations following an earlier student interaction and a meeting of a high-powered committee.

On September 8, Sood interacted with students residing in PG accommodations across university hubs. The students raised concerns over arbitrary electricity charges, high rents, lack of security and unverified landlords.

Following the feedback, Sood on September 15 chaired the first meeting of a newly constituted 20-member High-Powered Committee on Student Accommodation and Safety.

The committee discussed several measures, including standard rental contracts, mandatory municipal registration through a centralised 'GovPG' portal, structural and fire safety audits and fair pricing mechanisms.

The government said the consultations with different stakeholders were aimed at taking their concerns into account before finalising the regulatory framework.

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.