A ceiling fan fell in the women’s wing of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Tapti Hostel on Tuesday, prompting students to raise concerns over safety and deteriorating infrastructure on the campus.
“Last night, a ceiling fan collapsed in a room at Tapti Hostel. Fortunately, no student was present in the room at the time but this could easily have resulted in serious injury or death. This is not an isolated incident. “For years, students have raised these concerns through protests, petitions, and hunger strikes, yet the administration has failed to take meaningful corrective action. The decay is visible across the campus – in classrooms, in hostels with leaking ceilings and crumbling walls, and even in spaces central to student life such as Teflas (JNUSU’s office),” the statement added. The panes were added in a few rooms after almost two weeks of the complaint.
Many students still manage to cover the window with cardboard, mosquito nets, and curtains,” said a student who has been residing in the hostel since July 2024.
In the wake of the tragic Satya Niketan building collapse, where poor infrastructure cost students their lives, it has become impossible to ignore the same warning signs here at JNU,” JNUSU said in the statement.
“In July last year, a portion of the roof collapsed in the female students’ wing and then that particular area was repaired. Then in December last year, I had raised concerns about the broken glass panes in the windows. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) alleged that the university had failed to act despite students repeatedly raising infrastructure-related concerns through protests, petitions and hunger strikes.
