Delhi’s coaching market sinks every year: Rajendra Nagar was settled for people who came to India from Lahore; It became a commercial area after the opening of coaching

Recently, rainwater entered a library located in the basement of Delhi’s Rau Academy and three students drowned to death. Since then, the students preparing here have been protesting against the indifferent administration.

To cover this incident, I took the metro and reached Karol Bagh metro station. As soon as I stepped out of the station, there were advertisements of coaching centres, hostels, libraries etc. all around. Even the name of the station has become ‘Drishti IAS – Karol Bagh’.

The ‘Karol Bagh’ metro station of Delhi Metro is now called ‘Drishti IAS Karol Bagh’.

In the narrow streets, either students were visible or the advertisements of coaching centres promising the best preparation. As we moved ahead, we saw some houses which were probably built for families. But now there are big boards here – ‘To-let’ or ‘Contact for PG’.

Almost the same number of police for 300 students
Finally I reached the accident spot. Around 300 students were gathered here. All these students had come here from all over the country to prepare for UPSC and become a part of the system. But right now they are standing against the system. Almost the same number of police force was also seen deployed here.

Talking to a woman police officer, it was revealed that police was called from many nearby police stations. Barricades were also put up at three places to stop only 300 students. Apart from this, the library where the incident happened was sealed. Neither any media person nor any student was being allowed to go there.

After the accident, the basement of Rau Coaching was sealed.

When I asked Sunny Singh, one of the policemen standing to stop us from entering the library, why we were not being allowed to enter the library, he had no concrete answer. He shooed me away citing protocol and orders from above.

MCD came to its senses after the accident
Meanwhile, many vehicles and bulldozers of MCD also reached there. It was found that encroachment was done on the drains in the area. Due to which the rain water could not flow and filled the basement, due to which three students died. After this, MCD became alert and reached to remove the encroachment. However, in the name of encroachment, the work was completed by breaking the ramps in front of shops and coaching centers. Apart from this, all the libraries and 13 coaching centers running in the basement have been sealed.

The very next day after the accident, MCD removed encroachments by using bulldozers at many places in Old Rajendra Nagar.

However, the students said that this action is only for a few days. As soon as the matter cools down, all the coaching centres and the libraries running in the basement will start functioning as before. Last year, a fire broke out in the Sanskruti Coaching Centre in Mukherjee Nagar. Even after this, the students sat on a dharna against the negligence of the coaching centres and the administration. Many coaching centres were also closed for a few days and many big words like fire safety were heard. But till date no improvement has been made. After a few days, all those coaching centres were started again.

Rajendra Nagar was a refugee colony
Umesh Prasad, who has been working in different coaching centres in Rajendra Nagar for the last 15 years, said that when partition took place at the time of independence, many Sikhs and Hindus came to Delhi from Lahore. Colonies like Patel Nagar, Rajendra Nagar, Lajpat Nagar were established here for these people.

Till 1995, this entire area was residential. Then around 1997, coaching centers started here. Students from Delhi University started coming here to prepare for civil services. Apart from this, when many successful candidates like Tina Dabi came out from Delhi, students from all over the country also started coming to Delhi. After this, the residential area became a commercial area. The houses built for living and eating were made available for rent. But the administration did not make any preparations for this. No attention was paid to the drainage system.

Umesh said that he has been working here for the last 15 years. Every year when it rains, there is so much water here that a four wheeler car can easily sink in it.

Students’ classes are run in these dilapidated buildings.

No action taken on students who are constantly complaining
A student named Kishore Kumar Kushwaha had complained about the library being illegal on June 26. After this, on July 24, three days before the incident on July 27, an aspirant named Kanishka Tiwari also lodged a complaint of water logging.

Kanishka said that some time ago an aspirant named Nilesh Rai died due to electric shock. No one paid attention to the problem then. I travel for hours every day from Burari to come for coaching. One day when I came, I saw that the place was flooded due to a little rain. Apart from this, electric wires were also touching water at many places, then I complained.

Calls came from many officials saying that they will take immediate action on this. But no action was taken. If action had been taken then this accident would not have happened. Now we pay such high fees, come from far away places but no one is serious about our safety. Tomorrow we too have to join the civil service and become a part of this system. But today we feel disappointed to see the bad condition of the system. There is no inspiration for us.

Students protesting in shifts
A student, Navin Delvin, died in the accident. His friend Vishan Shinde from Maharashtra said – Navin and I were taking CSAT coaching together. He was a bright student. He was also pursuing PhD from JNU. He was a resident of Kerala and his father works in the police. Like every day, he had come to the library to study. We were calling him, but he did not pick up. We thought that maybe he had left his phone in the room and gone out for a walk in the rain. But when we saw his photo on the group that he was missing, we were shocked. At first, no one could believe that the person I met in the morning was no longer in this world and that I would never be able to meet him again.

Vishan further said that this entire incident is the result of the negligence of the people running the library, the people renting out the library and the administration. And this is not the only such library. There are many such libraries and coaching classes here where an accident can happen at any time. We are protesting in shifts against this.

Mukherjee Nagar is also in bad shape
After Rajendra Nagar, I reached Mukherjee Nagar. The streets here were even more narrow than Rajendra Nagar. Here I saw the box room culture for the first time. Basically, a large room is divided with cardboard or plastic boards and many small rooms are made. These are called box rooms. Many aspirants spend years in these 4 by 4 rooms. Space is so important here that stationery and book shops are set up on carts or on the ground.

Books and stationery are found being sold here on the roadside.

Either coaching classes are run in permanent shops or hostels have been built for children to stay. Here too, many classes, hostels and libraries are running in the basement.

However, after the incident, the administration has sealed them. But no one knows for how long this seal will remain and what will happen to the fees paid by the students here.

Sankar Nala is a picnic spot
Aspirants come out of closed rooms to enter the library and other closed rooms of the classes. The population density here is so high that it seems there is a shortage of oxygen. That is why probably in the evening all the students come out of the chicken coop-like rooms. But even after coming out, they do not have any better place to go.

This is a small bridge between Mukherjee Nagar and Nehru Vihar. This is where aspirants hang out in the evening.

Everyone sits near the narrow drain between Mukherjee Nagar and Nehru Vihar. They probably like the stench and ugliness of the drain better than their rooms and classrooms. And even if they don’t like it, there is no other place to go. This drain is the only open area in the whole area where they can breathe freely.