The basement of Rau’s IAS coaching centre in Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi was flooded on Saturday. Three students died due to drowning due to waterlogging. The three students who died in this accident included Shreya Yadav from Ambedkar Nagar in UP, Tanya Soni from Telangana and Naveen Dalvin from Ernakulam, Kerala.
After the death of three students, this issue has heated up from the streets to the Parliament. Meanwhile, Aaj Tak’s consulting editor Sudhir Chaudhary reached Old Rajendra Nagar and investigated and found out how the students prepare to become IAS by living in a small room here?
Students from different parts of the country, with dreams of becoming IAS officers, live in small rooms here. These rooms are so small that a person cannot stand up and stretch his hands fully. Students say that teachers say that mobile phones should be kept at arm’s length so that attention is not diverted. But these rooms are so small that mobile phones cannot be kept at arm’s length.
There is a bed in this room. There is a small cupboard to keep clothes and stuff. And there is a rack to keep books. The rent of this small one bed room is 10,500 rupees.
Single and double bed rooms are available in the girls PG of Old Rajendra Nagar. Two girls live in the rooms which have two beds and the rent of one is 9 thousand rupees. There are three seater rooms here as well, whose rent is 27 thousand rupees. That is, a girl pays a rent of 9 thousand rupees every month. A student living in the PG told that sometimes when it feels congested, we go out for a walk.
Many students claimed that building a PG in the basement is not allowed, but all this is going on here. The PG gets flooded during the rainy season.
A local woman here said that she has complained to the MCD about the drainage problem, but no one comes to clean the drain.
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So far 7 accused have been arrested
Since this incident on Saturday, the police have arrested seven accused so far. On Sunday, the police arrested the coaching centre owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh. On Monday, five more people were arrested, including four relatives of the building owner including his son and the owner of the car, due to whose pressure water entered the building. The court has sent all the accused to judicial custody for 14 days.
What has happened in the case so far?
An FIR has been registered in this case at Rajendra Nagar Police Station. The police have registered a case under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 290 (negligence in construction of buildings) of the Indian Penal Code.
In this case, the police have arrested 7 accused including coaching center owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh. The court has sent all of them to judicial custody for 14 days.
At the same time, after the accident, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has also come into action mode. MCD has sealed 19 coaching institutes running illegally in the basement. This action has been taken on coaching institutes running in Mukherjee Nagar and Rajendra Nagar. Action was taken on 13 institutes on Sunday and 6 on Monday.
Delhi Mayor Shaili Oberoi said that in this case, the JE has been terminated and the AE has been suspended. Also, instructions have been given to take action against coaching centers running in Delhi without permission from the Municipal Corporation.
Home Ministry committee will investigate
The Union Home Ministry has formed a committee to investigate this incident. The committee will include several key officials including Additional Secretary, Principal Secretary of the Home Department of the Delhi Government, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police, Fire Advisor and a Joint Secretary of the Home Ministry, who will work as the convener.
The committee will investigate the causes of the accident, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes. Meanwhile, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the families of the deceased.
How did the accident happen?
There is no official statement on this yet. Initial investigation has revealed that there was heavy rain on Saturday, due to which the road was flooded. Due to the lack of drainage system, this water filled the basement of the coaching center.
Several videos of this incident are going viral on social media, in which many students are seen trying to save themselves from drowning. In one video, the main entry gate of the coaching center is seen falling due to heavy rain, due to which the basement got flooded.
It is being told that there was only one way to enter and exit the basement. Some students have alleged that the biometric system of entry-exit had malfunctioned, due to which the students were stuck here.
A library was made by telling it to be a store room
MCD officials said that the building plan of the coaching centre was approved in 2021. The completion certificate of the building clearly stated that the basement would be used as a parking space or a store room. This means that the library running in the basement was illegal.
Not only this, the coaching centre was given a fire NOC this month. In this, the coaching centre was approved for a three-storey building, parking space under the building and a basement. It was also mentioned in this that the basement will be used as a store room. The police asked the coaching centre owner Abhishek Gupta for the permission documents for the library in the basement, which he did not have.
In this case, the police have arrested the owner of the coaching centre, Abhishek Gupta. During interrogation, Abhishek Gupta has admitted that there was no drainage system in the basement of the coaching centre.