Lockdown impact | Hassled students seek room-rent waivers, want government to intervene

Mahesh Kumar Meena, 19, has been asked to vacate his paying guest facility in Delhi by his landlord after he was unable to pay the room rent from March to June. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Meena's parents, who are travel agents, were unable to pay. He has now joined several students on social demand, demanding a room-rent waiver.

"I asked for one-month time to pay the room rent, but was told that no further extension can be given. I am back home in Rajasthan and the room is not even being used. If there is a facility for EMI moratorium for home loans, why not one for room rent? Hence, we want the respective state governments to intervene," Meena told Moneycontrol.

Exams have been postponed and classes have moved online across colleges in India due to the pandemic. So, students were forced to go back to their home states from March itself. But this hasn't stopped landlords of hostels, paying guest facilities from seeking rent.

Across social media, students who have not been able to pay room rent at paying guest facilities and hostels have appealed to the state governments to allow three to six months of waiver.

The students' justification is that the PG/hostel premises have not been occupied since March and the financial impact of lockdown restrictions on their families has been huge, with their parents either forced to take pay cuts or handed pink slips.

Data from Centre for Monitoring Economy (CMIE) said that although the unemployment rate remained very high at 23.5 per cent in May 2020, labour market conditions improved during the month. The total number of people employed increased by 21 million during May 2020.

Room rent ranges between Rs 3,000-10,000 per month depending on the city, hostel/PG location and facilities offered. Mess facilities are charged an extra rate.

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State governments like Maharashtra have asked the landlords to not evict tenants for non-payment of rent. Landlords have been asked to defer payment collections by three months in an April 2020 order.

However, the reality is different. Be it Maharashtra, or other states/union territories like Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, landlords have demanded rent during the lockdown. Those unable to pay have been evicted.

Zainab Saifi, a 20-year-old student studying in Bhopal, said her landlord has increased the rent by Rs 500 to Rs 4,000 per month from May even though she has been unable to pay any rent since March 2020.

"I have only three months left in my course post which I would need this place while searching for employment. It is an additional financial stress. I don’t want to stay for free but just want two to three months additional time," she added.

Saifi's mother worked as an administrative officer at a textile unit in Uttar Pradesh and has been without an employment since April 2020.

According to Mahesh Vyas, MD & CEO of CMIE, compared to the 404 million people employed on average in 2019-20, employment in May 2020 was 303 million. This meant that over a 100 million people were still out of jobs compared to employment in 2019-20.

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