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A tragedy hit New Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar on July 27 evening, when rain-induced floods at a renowned UPSC coaching centre in the National Capital claimed the lives of three civil services aspirants: Tania Soni from Telangana, Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, and Navin Delvin from Kerala. The tragedy brought to light the use of unauthorised basements at the coaching centres in Delhi, and Rau's IAS — where the mishap happened — is not the only coaching centre allegedly flouting norms, according to the students.
"Most of the coaching centres, if not all, are conducting classes in the basement," a UPSC aspirant told the Free Press Journal requesting anonymity. "There should be a thorough investigation and every institution violating the norms and putting the students' lives in danger should face stringent action," the aspirant added.
"In recent years, to lure more students, the coaching institutes have tied up with private libraries and they offer free one-year subscriptions to these libraries with new admissions. 90-95% of these libraries function out of the basements in Old Rajinder Nagar, Mukherjee Nagar, Karol Bagh and Patel Nagar," Avesh Khan, another UPSC aspirant told the FPJ.
Khan claimed: "After the tragedy, the authorities (Municipal Corporation of Delhi) have sealed a few libraries which operate from the basements, while a few other owners have shut their libraries, even removed their hoardings and boards, and have absconded."
Speaking to the FPJ, Prateek Abhimanyu, a family friend of Tania Soni from Telangana who lost her life, put the responsibility of the tragedy on "everyone who is in a position of power."
"Only after the tragedy has happened, we are getting to know about institutions flouting norms," he said, asking: "Why was the MCD not taking any action against such coaching institutions? What was the MCD Mayor doing? What were the Delhi Chief Minister, the MLA and the MP of the area doing? What was the Lieutenant Governor doing?"
At Rau's IAS, the owner of the building had shown that the basement would be used as a store room to acquire the fire department's no objection certificate (NOC), but the owner violated the norms and the basement was being used as a library/classroom, according to the FIR. This phenomenon, however, is allegedly "not limited to one or two coaching centres".
In fact, nearly a month before the tragic accident at Rau's IAS, civil services aspirant Kishor Singh Kushwah had filed a complaint against the coaching centres with the MCD on June 26 and had warned of a "possibility of a major accident", according to media reports.
“Despite not having permission, they are running a classroom without NOC in the basement; they are running test classes, which are affecting the lives of students and staff. There is a possibility of a major accident. Big UPSC coaching institutes are running classes at illegal places, putting the lives of the students at risk,” Kushwah had written in his complaint.
The students are still demanding action against such coaching institutes that have ostensibly been flouting norms. Protests have been ongoing ever since the tragedy occurred incident and one of the several demands by the protesting students reads: "There should be strict actions against all the coaching institutes, buildings and properties that do not follow proper construction and security measures. All the libraries in the basement defying the appropriate safety and security protocols should be closed forever."
Additionally, the waterlogging in Old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar, the two areas in the National Capital where most of the coaching centres are located, is a norm every year with little being done by the authorities to improve drainage systems in these localities.
"There should be proper cleaning of the drainage system and MCD should be held responsible for their inaction," says another demand by the protesting students.
Furthermore, students alleged that these buildings do not have a fire or emergency exit and that it is "a systematic problem" in these coaching centres and there is "a lack of interest in safety measures" on the part of the coaching centres. Students have been demanding the closure of such spaces where "students' lives can be in danger."
"First there should be a proper investigation and only those buildings which have emergency exits should be allowed to function so that such tragedies don't happen again," said a student on the condition of anonymity.
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