Sonu Sood reacts to Delhi's Satya Niketan tragedy, calls for safe student hostels

Actor Sonu Sood has called for safe and affordable student hostels in Delhi after the Satya Niketan PG building collapse.

In Short

• Sonu Sood reacted to Delhi's PG collapse
• He proposed using vacant government land near universities for student hostels
• Universities could get extra building permissions to expand on-campus accommodation

Actor Sonu Sood has raised concerns over the lack of safe and affordable accommodation for students who leave their hometowns to pursue education in other cities. His remarks come days after a five-storey PG building collapsed in Delhi’s Satya Niketan on Sunday. Highlighting the gap between the number of students and available hostel facilities in the national capital, Sood called for better utilisation of government land and additional accommodation on university campuses.

In a post on X, the Happy New Year actor pointed out that around 7 lakh students are enrolled in Delhi, while the city has hostel capacity for barely 30,000 students. This, he noted, means only around one in 31 students is able to secure a hostel.

“Every year, lakhs of students leave their homes to chase a dream in another city. But are we giving them a safe place to live?” Sood wrote, underlining the need to rethink how student accommodation is planned.

He suggested identifying vacant government land around universities and using it to build safe and affordable student hostels. According to him, universities could also be given additional building permissions to create more accommodation on campus.

He also stressed that improving student housing need not require a sweeping policy overhaul, but could instead begin with a relatively simple change in approach.

“In Delhi, around 7 lakh students are enrolled, while hostel capacity is barely 30,000 — just 1 in 31 gets a hostel. Why not identify vacant government land around universities and allow/build safe, affordable student hostels there? Universities could also be given additional building permissions to create more on-campus accommodation. Students get safety. Parents get peace of mind. Universities and governments generate revenue. And, most importantly, we protect lives. Sometimes, a small change in policy can protect someone’s biggest dream (sic),” he wrote.

Sood’s remarks come in the wake of the Satya Niketan building collapse, in which seven people, including five Delhi University students, were killed on Sunday. According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) post-collapse assessment, the five-storey PG building had no sanctioned plan, an unauthorised basement and no Fire NOC. Its fifth floor was also not permitted under building rules.

The building, however, was not among those classified as dangerous in this year’s pre-monsoon survey. According to reports citing MCD data, around 30.7 lakh buildings were surveyed as part of the exercise, with 62 declared dangerous. The incident has once again brought the safety of student accommodation in the capital into focus, lending urgency to Sood’s call for safe and affordable hostel facilities.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has announced Rs 5 lakh in financial aid for people injured in the building collapse and said the Delhi government would bear their entire treatment cost.

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