No room rents during the lockdown – Demands Student Body

No room rents during the lockdown – Demands Student Body

Students’ Federation of India has asked the Delhi government and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to suspend the rents of the students staying in apartments in New Delhi throughout the period of lockdown. They said that several instances of landlords harassing the students for rental payments have come to their notice and this is wrong and unacceptable. The students’ body asked the authorities to compensate the landlords for the loss of income. "This is completely wrong and unacceptable. In the circular issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, dated 22nd April 2020, the government of NCT of Delhi had ordered against threats of eviction to student tenants by landlords and against the latter asking for "immediate payment of rent"," SFI Delhi said in a statement. "However, even expecting a delayed payment of rent for the preceding months post the lockdown is unacceptable since most students will not be able to afford to pay such bulk amounts at that time," it added."Given that scholarships are limited to a handful of students in our country due to increasing privatization of education, most students are dependent on their parents' income for their survival, which is uncertain in these times. This is especially true for students whose parents are daily wage laborers or informal sector workers. Even for the students availing scholarships, the disbursement of scholarships has been irregular for a very long time.  In such a situation, it is becoming increasingly difficult for students staying in rented apartments to pay rents," the statement said.