“Who’s Responsible”: Delhi Police Notice To Civic Body Over Coaching Centre Deaths

New Delhi:

Amid a blame game over the deaths of three students in the waterlogged basement of a popular coaching centre in the national capital, the Delhi Police has asked the civic body who was responsible for the drainage system in the area.

“Who is responsible for the drainage system in the Old Rajendra Nagar area,” the Delhi Police asked in a notice sent to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD. The notice has been sent to the civic body’s Karol Bagh Zone office.

The three civil services aspirants – Tania Soni (25), Shreya Yadav (25) and Navin Delvin (28) – died after a library illegally housed in the basement of their coaching centre, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, in Old Rajinder Nagar got flooded following heavy rain. The sudden gush of water also reportedly led to the failure of the single biometric entry and exit point.

Taking against establishments illegally using basements in Mukherjee Nagar – another popular area for UPSC coaching – the MCD today launched a sealing drive. A similar drive will later be carried out across the city against establishments operating illegally from basements, an official said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, battling charges of negligence and not desilting storm water drains, earlier blamed encroachers for the incident.

MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar said that storm drains were covered by encroachers, leading to waterlogging and rainwater entering the basement.

The civic body has also terminated a junior engineer and suspended an assistant engineer of the area for alleged lapses on their part.

Mr Kumar today said that the civic body “will demolish all the encroachments in that area (Old Rajendra Nagar) and will recover the drainage system there”.

“The other action taken in this incident is, that all the basements which are illegal or coaching centres are running there, we are taking action against them,” ‘he added.

Anguish over the deaths of three civil service aspirants who drowned in the basement of a coaching centre echoed across the city, from parliament to the streets of Old Rajendra Nagar.

A political blame game has also been playing out with the AAP and BJP leaders trying to shift responsibility.

While BJP staged a protest near the AAP office, claiming the three students died due to due to corruption of the Aam Aadmi Party that governs Delhi and MCD, the Aam Aadmi Party protested near the LG Secretariat to demand the sacking of officers who allegedly failed to issue directions for the desilting of drains in Delhi.

Angry students have been congregating in the Old Rajendra Nagar area to register their protest. Hundreds sat on the road near the coaching institute, demanding justice and compensation for the families of those who died in the incident.