Delhi University (DU) has issued a 17-point advisory to colleges and departments for holding programmes, events and fests, mentioning that the responsibility for events will lie with the respective college. It further states that department authorities and the college concerned will be solely responsible for any "untoward incident".
The varsity has asked its colleges to allow only "pre-registered" students at cultural festivals and events. They have also been instructed to hire door frame metallic detectors from police to monitor entry at such programmes. In addition, the concerned colleges are now required to hold an Advance Security Liasoning meeting with all stakeholders, namely fire, police, electricity and security personnel, college representatives, and event management companies, as per a report by PTI.
"Responsibility for events shall lie with the college/department authorities. They should act judiciously using due diligence while organising programmes/events/fests. There should be a careful assessment of the capacity of the venue about attendees expected," a part of the advisory reads.
"Entry for events should be through pre-registration like on Google Forms with details of the event, that is, date, venue, and the expected number of participants, should be maintained and submitted to the police with a copy to other stakeholders. The registration forms should include scanned copies of college ID-cards of the participants. Information on the capacity of the various venues should be mapped and the total number of participants allowed should be by the available space," it says further.
Multiple gates, NOC from police
The document also suggested that there should be multiple gates in the college and all gates must have working CCTVs. "All gates should have a PA (public announcement) system for any announcements. Keeping in mind the number of their students, teachers, and staff members present at the event, the number of outside registrations should be kept below the venue's capacity," it mentions.
"No event will be organised without a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the police. Before any such concert, or event, in which outside students are invited, proper Advance Security Liasoning (ASL) meeting in advance should be conducted with all stakeholders," the advisory states, in addition.
The university has also advised colleges to install low concertina wires on the boundary wall to prevent outsiders from scaling them. "Before the event, there should be an assessment of the boundary wall of the college," the advisory says, as per PTI.
Gender-minority colleges and fests
These guidelines were prepared after a host of meetings with several university and college officials and the Delhi Police. The measure comes in the wake of several all-women colleges witnessing harassment incidents during cultural festivals. Recently, students of the Indraprastha College for Women (IPCW) alleged that they were harassed by "unknown" men during a fest on March 28. The incident led to widespread protests by students who demanded the resignation of the college principal.
