Suitcases in hand, fear in their eyes: Hundreds of students flee Satya Niketan after PG collapse

With suitcases rolling behind them and bags slung over their shoulders, students streamed out of the congested lanes of Satya Niketan late on Sunday (September 6, 2026) night, some still in the clothes they had slept in.

The collapse of a nearby PG building had left many too frightened to spend another night in the neighbourhood they had called home.

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For Anushriti, a native of Kanpur who had lived in Satya Niketan for nearly a year, the fear is still raw. She had left for a friend’s home in Moti Bagh with little more than the phone in her hand.

“I am in my night dress from the past 24 hours with just a phone in my hand. I am stranded now- can’t go to my hometown neither can I return to the PG,” she said.

She was sleeping during the day when the building collapsed nearby. The impact was so strong that her bed shook, and her first thought was that her own PG had given way.

“The building I lived in is very close to the building that collapsed. It doesn’t feel right,” she said. Her belongings remain on the fourth floor of her PG, but she has been too traumatised to return. “I just need to go back there to get my basic things and I am just mentally preparing.”

For many students, the decision to leave was taken within hours. Those who had families in other cities booked flights and left for home, while students whose relatives live in or around Delhi moved in with them. Others sought refuge with friends and seniors.

Pragya, who had shifted to Satya Niketan only a month ago and studies at Aryabhatta College, moved to her cousin’s home in Chirag Gali after the collapse. She had been in the same lane that morning to get breakfast, and later found herself overwhelmed by the sound of sirens and emergency vehicles.

“When I reached Chirag Gali, I just hugged my sister and cried for 15 minutes,” she said. Her parents, she added, panicked and asked her to find another PG.

“It doesn’t feel like you’re living. It’s just surviving,” said Pragya, who is from Jharkhand. “I will look for some other place now. I don’t want to go back there.”

For Unnayan, the fear followed him even after he returned briefly to his PG. He eventually left for his friend’s place in Ber Sarai at around 1 a.m., unable to convince himself that the building was safe.

“I went back to my PG in the night and I sat there and felt even this building would also go down. I decided to just leave,” he said. He could not sleep through the night.

The departures continued through the night as students, many carrying whatever they could gather quickly, made their way out of the densely packed neighbourhood.

Student representatives estimated that more than 100 students left for their hometowns or relatives’ homes.

For those who had nowhere else to go, temporary arrangements were made by fellow students and seniors. Students have been accommodated at places including Meena Bagh, while classrooms at Venkateshwara College and Aryabhatta College have been turned into temporary shelters, with mattresses laid out for students who have been displaced.

Many students said they did not want to return to their PGs until the Municipal Corporation of Delhi conducted safety checks and gave them some assurance that the buildings they were living in were safe.