Part of ceiling collapses in Daulat Ram College, four students injured

Nearly after a month from the protest between students and staff of Daulat Ram College (DRC), a major chunk of the ceiling of a classroom collapsed on Tuesday. The incident injured four students and created a stampede-like situation in the classroom prompting police to register a case of negligence against the Governing Body.

“A major chunk of ceiling suddenly fell down in the class. It scared the students who started to run out of class. Four students got injuries on their shoulder and arms,” said an eyewitness.

Following the incident, which happened at 11.45 am, students and staff of the college gathered to protest against the negligence of the college administration.

Earlier this month, students and staff of DRC had protested to demand more toilets, revamped infrastructure and appointment of teaching staff. Shockingly, the college has only one toilet for around 4,000 students. DU Teacher’s Association had also taken up the issue and had marched on August 8 along with DRC’s staff to the V-C’s office.

The issue had led to a full-fledged battle between the principal and the chairperson. The principal alleged the chairperson of not releasing funds to revamp the college building, while the chairperson claimed that funds have been released. “Tuesday’s incident is the result of negligence and apathy of the GB headed by the chairperson. The whole college is in a complete mess because of the interference of the GB. The GB has frozen the college account which means that I have to go to the GB even for a small expenditure,” said Savita Roy, principal, DRC.

“GB is not bothered about students, staff, and infrastructure. In fact, students are risking their lives by coming to the college,” added Roy.

“No negligence on part of the GB as it has sanctioned money in 2015 for renovations and repairs,” said Suneeta Sudarshan, chairperson of DRC.