NEW DELHI: Delhi University's Hansraj College has stopped serving non-vegetarian food to students in the canteen or hostel after the offline mode of study resumed after the Covid pandemic.
The university had shut down and switched to online classes in March 2020 when the national lockdown was imposed at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and resumed physical classes in February 2022.
Abhay Maurya, a second-year student of Hansraj College said, "Earlier, non-veg food used to be served, but suddenly non-veg food and eggs were stopped." He added that students from southern states were facing the brunt of the decision as they eat non-veg food regularly.
A second-year mathematics honours student, who has come from Central Africa to study in DU, told Indian Express that he had to leave the hostel and move to a private accommodation because of the restriction on non-vegetarian food.
However, the Principal of Hansraj College Dr Rama Sharma said that the administration has not received any complaints against the decision to serve vegetarian food only. She also claimed that in Hansraj College's canteen, non-veg food was never served. "The facility of serving non-veg food was there in the hostel, but the time when COVID came into our lives and changed our lifestyle and we thought that we have to focus on our health and lifestyle," Dr Rama said.
"I don't remember when exactly the serving of non-veg food was stopped if it was either three years back or four, but the hostel committee must have had a word with the students before taking the decision," Dr Rama added.
She also said that the administration takes any decision keeping the majority of students in mind. "We haven't given admission to students on a promise of serving non-veg food. Every institute has some rules," she added.
Dr Rama also said that the students who want to eat non-veg food can have it outside. “I don’t smoke, but if someone smokes in front of me, it will bother me. People who want to go out and consume it, they can, that’s their personal choice, but on premises, it’s not allowed,” she was quoted as saying by IE.
Adding that 90 per cent of students are vegetarian, the principal also told IE that "the vegetarian student or employee cannot accommodate everybody."
(With inputs from ANI)