Punjab's biggest working women's hostel is coming to Sector 66 Mohali — 484 beds, and not one is available yet

• 484Women housedSector 66 hostel, on completion
• ₹70 crEstimated project costBuilt by Punjab PWD
• 5Hostels under constructionMohali, Jalandhar, Amritsar
• ₹6–12kGirls PG, MohaliObserved monthly range, 2026

Two things are true at once here, and most coverage only tells you the first. Punjab has started building a very large working women’s hostel in Sector 66, Mohali. And a woman who lands a job at Quark City or the Phase 8 SEZ next month still has to find a room the old way — from a PG owner, a landlord, a WhatsApp group, or one of the local real estate Instagram pages and creators that a lot of Tricity renters now treat as their first search. This post covers both halves: what is actually being built, and what you can rent this month.

What is being built at Sector 66, Mohali

On 20 June 2026, Punjab’s Minister for Social Security, Women and Child Development, Dr Baljit Kaur, inaugurated construction of a seven-storey Working Women Hostel at Sector 66, Mohali. On completion it will be the largest government-run working women’s hostel in Punjab, housing 484 women at an estimated cost of ₹70 crore. The Public Works Department is executing it.

The plan is not a barracks. The Sector 66 Mohali hostel is designed with single rooms, double-occupancy rooms and dormitory beds, plus a crèche for residents’ children and indoor recreation space. The crèche matters more than it sounds: a single mother on an IT Park salary is usually priced out twice, once by rent and once by daycare, and almost no private PG in Mohali solves the second problem.

The five hostels, and where Mohali sits in the list

Sector 66 is the headline, but it is one of five working women’s hostels the department has under construction — three of them in Mohali district. Two of those are far smaller and, being smaller, may well finish sooner.

Add them up and it is 984 beds statewide, of which 734 are in Mohali. That concentration is not an accident — the Mohali belt from Phase 8 through Sectors 66 to 82 is where the region’s office jobs have moved, and it is also where a single woman’s housing options are thinnest relative to demand.

One honest caveat on timelines. In March 2025 the same minister said Punjab would commission six working women’s hostels by the end of 2026. Fifteen months later, the biggest one was still at foundation stage. Treat any completion date you hear as indicative, not a plan you can sign a resignation letter against.

Who a government working women’s hostel is actually for

These hostels are built under the Centre’s Sakhi Niwas (Working Women Hostel) scheme within Mission Shakti, and that scheme sets the shape of who gets in. Under the Sakhi Niwas guidelines, hostel facilities are meant for working women who are single, widowed, divorced or separated, or married but whose husband or immediate family does not live in the same area, and for women in training for a job. There is also an income ceiling: gross income not exceeding ₹50,000 per month in metropolitan cities and ₹35,000 per month elsewhere.

Two practical consequences. First, a mid-level IT salary in Mohali can put you over the ceiling — these hostels are aimed at entry-level and lower-middle-income earners, not at everyone with a job. Second, allotment will run through the Punjab Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development and the district administration, not through any property portal. Hoomzz cannot apply on your behalf and neither can any broker who tells you otherwise. When the Sector 66 hostel opens, watch the department and the SAS Nagar district website for the allotment notice.

What you can actually rent near Sector 66 and IT Park right now

Here is the part you can use today. The ranges below are observed asking prices across the Mohali rental market in 2026, not a rate card — confirm the number against the specific room before you commit to anything.

A shared flat looks cheaper per head than a single PG room until you add it up properly. Electricity in a Mohali summer, a cook or a food-delivery habit, internet, a water tanker in a bad month and society maintenance will add a few thousand rupees per person. A PG at ₹11,000 with meals often lands close to a flat share at ₹8,000 plus everything else. The real difference is not money, it is control: a flat has no curfew, no warden and no fixed dinner time.

If your office is in Chandigarh rather than Mohali, pick your area by the commute before you pick it by the rent — our guide on where to rent when you move to the Tricity for an IT job works through that trade-off corridor by corridor. If you are a student rather than a salaried professional, renting near IISER, Plaksha and Amity Mohali covers a different market with different prices. And if you are weighing the airport side, Aerocity and IT City rentals explains why the same corridor gets quoted at wildly different yields.

Before you pay a single rupee: six checks

1. See the actual room, not a photoInsist on the specific bed or room you are being given, not the model room near the entrance. Photos that do not match the flat are the single most common complaint in Tricity rentals.
2. Refuse token money before a viewingNo honest PG owner in Mohali needs a booking amount from someone who has not seen the place. A demand for token money over UPI before a visit is a reason to walk away.
3. Get the deposit in writing, with the refund dateThere is no statutory cap on security deposits in Mohali, so whatever you negotiate is the deal. Put the amount, the deduction heads and the number of days for refund into the agreement.
4. Expect police verification — it is the owner’s jobIn SAS Nagar district, orders issued by the District Magistrate under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita require house owners to report details of tenants, employees and paying guests to the police. An owner who wants to skip it is not protecting your privacy.
5. Ask what the gate rules really areEntry timings, guests, whether the gate is locked at 10pm. Ask a current resident, not the owner. This is the clause that decides whether a PG is livable for someone on a late shift.
6. Check water, backup and the summer billAsk what the power backup covers and what the highest electricity bill was last June. In Mohali that one question separates a ₹8,000 room from a ₹11,000 room.

The deposit question, answered straight

There is no statutory security-deposit cap anywhere in the Tricity in 2026. A widely reported two-month cap came from a Central Government notification dated 6 May 2026 extending the Assam Tenancy Act, 2021, to the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The Punjab and Haryana High Court kept that notification in abeyance on an interim basis in May 2026 and ordered that the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, continues to apply in Chandigarh. Mohali, being in Punjab, is governed by the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949, and Panchkula by the Haryana Urban (Control of Rent and Eviction) Act, 1973. The matter is live, so check the current position before relying on it.

In practice, one to two months’ rent as deposit is the common ask for a PG in Mohali and two to three months for a flat. That is custom, not law. Negotiate it, and get the refund terms written down.

Where Hoomzz fits, and where it does not

Hoomzz lists physically verified rentals and PGs across Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and Zirakpur with zero brokerage, so the rent you see is the rent you pay. You can browse PGs and shared accommodation in the Tricity or full rental flats across the Tricity. Hoomzz does not run the government hostel scheme, does not accept hostel applications, and does not provide home loans, insurance or legal representation.

FAQs

Where is the new working women’s hostel in Mohali?

Punjab’s largest working women’s hostel is being built at Sector 66, Mohali, on a GMADA plot, close to the Phase 8 industrial and SEZ belt. Construction was inaugurated in June 2026 by Dr Baljit Kaur, Punjab’s Minister for Social Security, Women and Child Development. The Public Works Department is executing the project. It is a construction site at present, not an operating hostel.

How many women will the Sector 66 Mohali hostel accommodate?

The Sector 66 Mohali working women’s hostel is planned for 484 women across seven storeys, at an estimated cost of ₹70 crore. It will offer single rooms, double-occupancy rooms and dormitory accommodation, along with a crèche for residents’ children and indoor recreation facilities. On completion it will be the largest government-run working women’s hostel in Punjab.

Is the Sector 66 hostel open, and when can women move in?

No. The Sector 66 Mohali hostel is under construction and is not accepting residents as of September 2026. No allotment window or rent schedule has been published. In March 2025 the state said six hostels would be commissioned by the end of 2026, but the Mohali building only broke ground in June 2026, so treat any completion date as indicative.

What does a girls PG in Mohali cost per month?

A girls PG in Mohali typically runs about ₹6,000–₹8,000 a month for triple or four sharing, ₹8,000–₹10,000 for double sharing and ₹10,000–₹12,000 for a single room, usually with meals included. A shared flat near the Mohali office belt works out to roughly ₹7,000–₹14,000 per person before electricity, internet and food. These are observed market ranges for 2026 and should be verified against the specific property.

Is there safe accommodation for working women near Mohali IT Park?

Yes — the Sector 66 to Sector 82 belt and Phase 3B2 have a working supply of women-only PGs and shared flats within 15 minutes of the Phase 8 SEZ and the IT City corridor. Safety is worth checking in person: gate timings, whether a warden lives on site, lighting on the approach road and whether the owner completes police verification. Hoomzz lists physically verified PGs and rentals in Mohali so the room you see online is the room that exists.

How do I apply for a government working women’s hostel in Punjab?

Applications go to the Punjab Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development and the district administration, not to any property website or broker. The hostels are built under the Centre’s Sakhi Niwas scheme, whose guidelines cover working women who are single, widowed, divorced, separated, or married but living away from their husband and immediate family, plus women in job training. The scheme sets a gross income ceiling of ₹50,000 per month in metropolitan cities and ₹35,000 per month elsewhere. No allotment process has opened for the Sector 66 hostel yet.

Is police verification of tenants compulsory in Mohali?

Yes. Orders issued by the District Magistrate, SAS Nagar, under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita require house owners to furnish details of tenants, employees and paying guests to the police. This obligation sits with the owner and is separate from the rent statute. Expect to hand over ID proof, and be wary of an owner who prefers to avoid it.

Sources, and what here is judgement rather than data

Measured fact, from named sources: the Sector 66 hostel’s seven storeys, 484 capacity, ₹70 crore cost, PWD execution, crèche and room mix; the capacities and costs of the NIFT Mohali, Sector 79 Mohali, Amritsar and Jalandhar hostels; the March 2025 statement about six hostels by end-2026; the Sakhi Niwas eligibility categories and income ceilings; the High Court order keeping the 6 May 2026 notification in abeyance; the SAS Nagar tenant-verification orders.

Editorial judgement, not data: the rent ranges in both tables are observed asking prices compiled from listing activity, not a survey — they are directional and every one needs checking against the actual room. The comparison of PG-plus-meals against a flat share, the view that smaller hostels may finish sooner than the 484-bed one, the reading that a mid-level IT salary can exceed the Sakhi Niwas ceiling, and the six pre-deposit checks are our opinion.

• The Tribune, 20 June 2026 — confirms the Sector 66 hostel’s 484 capacity, ₹70 crore cost, seven storeys and the four other hostels’ capacities and costs
• The Tribune, March 2025 — confirms the six-hostel target by end-2026 and the GMADA Sector 66 plot
• Ministry of Women and Child Development — Sakhi Niwas eligibility categories and the ₹50,000 / ₹35,000 income ceilings
• The Tribune — Punjab and Haryana High Court keeps the Assam Tenancy Act notification in abeyance, East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act, 1949 continues
• District S.A.S. Nagar administration — the standing order on verification of tenants

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👈 This comparison is based on market observations and publicly available data. Users should verify details independently.