Job aspirants, students face hardship due to lockdown
New Delhi: Tens of thousands of students preparing for various government jobs and studying in various universities in the Capital are facing hardships due to the lockdown.
The students are facing a crisis of essential services besides the pressure from landlords to pay rent on time. The students rue that neither they come under any welfare scheme run by the governments, not any authority has come forward to take care of their concern during this difficult situation.
Rahul Kumar, who is living in Nehru Vihar and preparing for civil services said that there is no availability of LPG gas as most of the students use small cylinders in the kitchen and now with shops closed, we are not being able to get it refilled.
"We have approached police also requesting them to understand our plight but all efforts yielded no result," he said.
Nikita Mishra, a student of Delhi University said that the problem is that nobody wants to address out plights not even political leaders.
"Why everybody is talking about relief to migrants workers only. Will you left us to die only because we are not voters of Delhi. I request the government to provide students monetary relief as we are not from a good financial background and our parents' income is also limited and now with the shutdown, all their work is stalled," she added.
"We somehow managed the first phase of the lockdown but since the second phase, we are under pressure as we are unable to manage our daily affairs," said Sourabh Shrivastava, a student living in the North Delhi area.
"Our family cannot send money as they are also in problem due to countrywide lockdown. Now when we are in the dying situation, we want some relief or government assistance. If the crisis not resolved, it will be a disaster for student community studying here," said Chandan Singh, an IAS aspirant living in the Mukherjee Nagar area.
Parvez, a student living in the Wazirabad area, said that he belongs to a lower-class family hence cannot ask for money during the nationwide crisis. "I am helpless in the city facing extreme pressure to pay rent and manage other expenses. Earlier I was providing home tuition but since shutdown imposed, I have no other option than sitting in my room," he said.
"There is no denying the fact that North Delhi is coaching the city of India and lakhs of students study for various government exams here. But amid lockdown, the students are stuck. They were in hostels, PGs and private accommodations when the pan-India lockdown was announced and the students could not head to their hometowns. Now when they are unable to pay their rent, electricity and water bills, authorities should come forward to help them instead of asking landlords to waive off the money. Here, they must understand that rent is the only source of our livelihood hence we cannot even accept delayed payment of the same," said Sudhir Singh from Hudson Lane area.
