new delhi amid the prevailing pandemic situation st stephens college has asked its hostel students to vacate their rooms the college in a notice issued on july 25 has stated that students who will not remove their belongings from the rooms will be charged a fine of rs 100 per day from august 7 till when the college reopens several faculty members and students have opposed this diktat as many students are unable to travel to delhi because of the covid19 crisisstudents have expressed their shock over the notice the principal however said that the college needs vacant rooms to make them ready for the new session which is unlikely to happen before octoberthe least we expected was a financial burden on students it is unnecessary as the college isnt opening anytime soon and the admission process is still going on there is nobody on the campus and no mess service is going on said a hostel residentanother student added that the new rate of rs 100 per day will translate to around rs 3000 per month for keeping our belongings in our own rooms this is more than double the amount of the room rent charge which is rs 1400 per montha faculty member said that the charge defeats the spirit of the students movement that currently demands a waiver of semester feeswhy should students pay rent when they have not been here before they left they were not asked to clear out their belongings now they want them to come back during a raging pandemic just to clear out their belongings which is unjustified the teacher addedspeaking to the principal of the college john varghese said that the colleges closed in march and this is july we need to be ready for the next session and certain things need to be done such as maintenance and repair several communications have been sent to them and it is about time they come back to take away their belongings as a new year is beginning and a new set of students will come residents admission happens each year and they have to apply for it every timethe principal maintained that the lockdown has been lifted and they will be charging students only from august 7earlier on june 23 a notice by the dean residence had asked the st stephens students to vacate their rooms and remove their belongings from college residence within five days beginning from monday june 29students union society had then written a letter to the principal stating it was difficult for most resident junior members to travel to delhi since cases o f covid19 are on an alarming rise in delhi most guardians of the junior members are afraid to send their children back to vacate their rooms the letter read