Aspirants who are not comfortable with the online process are thronging these cafes. In addition, there are those who are fed up with the technical glitches they face when they attempt to fill the forms at home.
The Delhi University's (DU) decision to make the admission process online has come as a windfall for cyber cafes operating around the north campus. In fact, some of them are charging as high as Rs 500 for one form.
Aspirants who are not comfortable with the online process are thronging these cafes. In addition, there are those who are fed up with the technical glitches they face when they attempt to fill the forms at home. Ruchika Sharma, 17, who filled her admission form in a Kamala Nagar cyber cafe, said: "First, I tried to fill my form at home but since the website kept hanging, I decided to visit a cyber cafe. The cafe owner was charging Rs 500 but I managed to convince him to do it for Rs 400."
Sharma, a resident of north Delhi's Civil Lines area, further said: "It's not that I couldn't fill the form on my own but I did not want to take any risk. In case of a mistake, one can't register for DU again. Cyber cafe operators are well aware of how to fill the forms."
When queried about the exorbitant amount being charged for a form, cyber cafe owner Suresh Singh said that the fee was justified as it took over 40 minutes to fill one form. "Sometimes, if the candidate is not clear about his or her choice, it takes even longer," he said.
Echoing the sentiment, Manjeet Aggarwal, another cyber cafe owner in the area, said this was the only time of the year when they could do good business. "Now everybody has computers and printers at home. We don't have as many costumers as we used to. This is the only time of the year when we can do good business," he said.
Meanwhile, the DU has set up 45 help desks, equipped with scanning facility, in different colleges to assist aspirants. "We request candidates looking for admission in DU to come to our help desks instead of spending so much money on these cyber cafes," Gurpreet Tuteja, Deputy Dean of Students Welfare, said.
In the meantime, Delhi Police seems clueless about this fleecing. "We have not received any complaint regarding the issue so far. We will definitely take strict action against those who are charging extra money from students," DCP (North) Jatin Narwal said.
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