Looks like the wait for students who are seeking hostel accommodation at Jamia Millia Islamia will be longer because officials will take at least three months to get the hostels up and running, as stated in a report by PTI.
It has been a hard time for students to find accommodation. A few students haven't even returned to the city despite the resumption of offline classes.
It is since the last two years that the hostels at Jamia have been closed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the offline classes for second and third-year students commenced in July and for students of first-year, they commenced on August 1.
"The hostels have been shut for the last two years. Several hostels need renovation and repair work. The hostel renovation is underway. We are hoping to reopen hostels by November 15," registrar Nazim Jafri told PTI.
Jafri recently issued a notification amid students' concerns about hostels, saying the allotment of hostels will be done only after the completion of the renovation of all the hostels.
The notification issued by Jafri stated, "As all are aware that due to the pandemic, all the hostels of the university were closed, therefore, there is a dire need for getting them renovated before allotting it to students as well as the construction of some new hostels."
Urooj, a postgraduate student at the varsity, who is from Rajasthan, said, "We have been facing a lot of problems. There is a dearth of PGs in the area so the prices have skyrocketed and not everyone can afford them. Many of my friends haven't returned to Delhi despite classes underway."
Meanwhile, several students also met university proctor Waseem Khan to raise the issue. Khan assured students that the varsity will allot hostels soon.
Early this month, some students held a protest outside the Vice-Chancellor's office demanding the reopening of hostels.
Jamia has multiple hostels for girls and boys students with a maximum capacity of 4,000 students, an official said.
