New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- For students and young professionals who leave their hometowns for Delhi in pursuit of their dreams, a paying guest accommodation gradually becomes much more than four walls and a bed. It becomes a second home where they return after college or work, have their meals, prepare for exams, attend late-night meetings and call their families before going to sleep.

But the collapse of a five-storey building housing a boys' PG in south Delhi's Satya Niketan on September 6, which claimed seven lives, has shaken that sense of security and made many question whether the place they call home is truly safe.

For students and young professionals currently living in PGs across Delhi-NCR, the tragedy has brought a question into th...