Lockdown: Working women’s hostel rent hiked three-times

CHANDIGARH: At a time when the government is pressing landlords to forgo collecting rent, the monthly charges of working women’s hostel (WWH) located on Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PGIMER) campus in Sector 12 were increased threefold.

And that’s not all, hostellers are fined if they fail to pay up. Curiously, both PGIMER and the UT administration’s social welfare department have said the hostel is not managed by them.

Around 300 women, mostly research scholars, lab technicians or students involved in active Covid-19 duty, stay in the hostel. A lab technician, working in a Covid-19 ward, said that they can’t shift amid the crisis nor can they pay the hiked amount.

After a 10% hike in December 2019, girls living in the hostels started paying ₹2,210 per person for a triple seater room, and ₹2,613 per person for a single room. After another hike in May, the rent was increased based on income slabs . Additionally, hostellers are also charged ₹732 for electricity and water and ₹293 for maintenance Those who use a cooler pay ₹100 more in summer.

A research scholar from the department of community medicine, PGIMER, said, “For me, the overall hostel payment has increased almost three times, from ₹2,600 to ₹8,000. With other charges, it comes to ₹11,000. Is this justified amid a crisis?”

The order released by the chairperson of the hostel management committee says the hostel charges were revised based on charges of Sector 24 WWH run by the social welfare department due to increased labour cost.

PGIMER in a written statement said the hostel did not come under its ambit. Secretary social welfare Yashpal Garg said PGIMER WWH was not managed by the department. When contacted for comments, Sushmita Ghoshal, head of the department of radiotherapy, PGIMER, and chairperson of the hostel’s management committee instead asked as to why the fee hike was being questioned at all.