DU professor starts petition against construction project for private residential high-rise near campus

NEW DELHI: Delhi University professor Rakesh Kumar Pandey has started an online petition against a project to construct a high-rise residential complex near the varsity campus.

The petition has been sent to the Justice and Chairperson of NGT, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, with an appeal to cancel the project completely. This comes a day before the NGT is to decide the fate of the "40-plus storied" private residential complex being planned for construction at a place that is completely surrounded by the Delhi University.

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"The online petition has got the support of more than 500 stakeholders in just a couple of days. The petition has been sent to the Justice and Chairperson of NGT with an appeal to cancel the project completely," Pandey, who teaches at Kirori Mal College, said in a statement. Pandey alleged that the land, which was earlier owned by the Delhi University, was sold to a private builder by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation without consulting the varsity.

"With such a tall structure in its vicinity, the privacy of the nearby girls' hostels within the campus, teaching and non-teaching staff quarters and the Vice-Chancellor's residence that is located on the adjacent land, will be irreversibly compromised," he said. The security, safety and more importantly the academic environment of the campus will suffer irreparably once this awkward private structure comes up almost inside the university area, he said.