MCD teams visited student housing clusters across all 12 municipal zones, checking building stability, unauthorised construction, fire-safety arrangements, occupancy and basic living conditions. Civic officials said the exercise covered about 1,150 PG facilities housing roughly 20,000 people on its first day.
The corporation said action was concentrated in areas with large numbers of students and tenants, including Laxmi Nagar, Vishwas Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh, Tilak Nagar, Karam Pura, Karol Bagh, Ramesh Nagar, Mansarovar Garden, Chandni Chowk and Nehru Vihar. Owners of buildings requiring repairs were being asked to undertake corrective work, while unsafe or unauthorised structures could face sealing or demolition.
Officials conducting the Laxmi Nagar survey examined buildings being used as PG accommodation without the required approvals and assessed whether additions or alterations had weakened their structures. Similar enforcement action was undertaken in Vishwas Nagar as the civic body widened scrutiny beyond the area around Delhi University's South Campus.
The drive followed directions for a citywide review of student accommodation after the five-storey building at Satya Niketan collapsed on Sunday afternoon. The structure, which was being used as a boys' PG near Sri Venkateswara College, came down while renovation work was under way. Seven people died and several others were injured.
Police have arrested the building's owner and other people linked to the management of the property. Investigators are examining allegations that additional floors and structural alterations were carried out despite concerns over the capacity of the old building. The precise cause of the collapse remains under investigation.
Five MCD officials, including senior officers from the South Zone, were suspended after the disaster as authorities examined possible regulatory lapses. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta also ordered structural audits and safety certification for PG accommodations and other buildings used by large numbers of people.
The Delhi High Court, hearing a public interest matter arising from the collapse, has sought broader scrutiny of PG hostels and the regulatory system governing them. The court expressed concern about the safety of students living in privately operated accommodation and the shortage of institutional hostel facilities.
The Supreme Court has also agreed to consider a request for wider safety audits of PGs, private hostels and student housing in Delhi. A court-appointed amicus curiae has sought time-bound inspections, while the bench indicated that the issue could require broader guidelines on unsafe and unauthorised accommodation.
Alongside the enforcement action, the National Human Rights Commission has asked the Delhi Chief Secretary and the University Grants Commission chairman to work with Delhi University on a detailed plan addressing the availability and affordability of hostel accommodation. The commission sought an action-oriented report within four weeks.
The Satya Niketan collapse has drawn attention to the dependence of students on privately run PG facilities around major educational centres. Delhi University has more than 250,000 students but only about 9,000 hostel beds, leaving a large number of outstation students reliant on private accommodation.
Officials said the first-day inspections found around 40 buildings requiring minor repairs and between six and eight needing major remedial work. The owners were advised to address the defects, while teams were asked to flag premises posing an immediate danger to occupants. The corporation has urged residents to cooperate with inspectors as the checks continue.
The government's response also includes work on a regulatory framework for private hostels and PGs, with licensing, structural and fire-safety clearances among the measures under consideration. Any regime would have to address the fragmented oversight of properties that are residential in sanction but are operated commercially as high-occupancy student accommodation.