Students' Federation of India asked the Government of NCT of Delhi and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to unconditionally suspend rents for students staying in rented apartments in Delhi through the period of lockdown. Delhi state arm of the student body said that several instances of landlords harassing students to pay rents has come to its notice and according to a statement "this is completely wrong and unacceptable".
The student organisation has also asked the authorities to compensate the landlords for the loss in their income from rents for this period, along with publishing a new circular clarifying this issue, and taking the demands into consideration.
"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 privatisation 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 labourers 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.
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