Students at Jamia Millia Islamia seeking hostel accommodation will have to wait a little longer, with officials saying it will take at least three more months to get the hostels ready. Students are facing a hard time due to the unavailability of accommodation. Some haven't even returned to the city even though physical classes are underway.
Jamia hostels have been shut due to COVID-19 for the past two years. The offline classes for second and third year students started in July while classes for first-year students commenced from 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. Jafri recently issued a notification amid students' concerns about hostels, saying the allotment of hostels will be done only after the completion of 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.