Three students died after the basement of an IAS coaching centre in Delhi's Old Rajindra Nagar got flooded on Saturday evening. The bodies of the students were retrieved from the site during the rescue operation.
The incident happened at Rau's IAS Study Circle. The Delhi Fire Department (DFS) official said they were alerted about the flooding at around 7 pm. The officials were told that there was a possibility that some people were trapped inside the basement. On arrival, the officials found the entire basement flooded.
The bodies of two female students were retrieved from the site initially by the NDRF, local police and fire department. A third body was recovered later.
DCP (Central Delhi) M Harshavardhan told reporters that a probe was on how the basement got flooded. "Some trapped students have been rescued and three of them have been sent to the hospital. Other than the three dead bodies, 13 to 14 others were rescued and they are fine," DCP Harshavardhan said. There are also reports that divers had to be called to rescue the students.
#BREAKING : Three civil services aspirant died and one went missing in Delhi after an IAS coaching centre in the city was flooded
— Siddhant Mishra (@siddhantvm) July 27, 2024
Basement of a coaching institute got filled with water #Delhi #OldRajendraNagar pic.twitter.com/obm63g3mDq
Our thoughts and prayers are with all UPSC students at Raus IAS Study Centre in ORN following the recent heavy rains. The NDRF team is on-site assisting with the situation. Please stay in your rooms and follow safety instructions #UPSC #ORN #UPSC2024 @khurpenchh @VivekGa54515036 pic.twitter.com/BhaOyMMvnV
— BLACKWOLF (@wohkhahai) July 27, 2024
The Delhi government has launched an investigation with Revenue Minister Atishi directing Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to initiate an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours on the incident. "A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate how this incident happened. Whoever is responsible for this incident will not be spared," Atishi posted on X.
The incident has triggered a political blame game with the state BJP unit seeking a probe into the corruption in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) should be inquired. "There should be an inquiry into the corruption of Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi and their government. Delhi Municipal Corporation’s corruption should be inquired. There should be an inquiry as to why the drainage was not cleaned. Will they order an inquiry into this?" he said.
New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj, who visited the site, said AAP was responsible for the incident. "For the past week, locals were urging AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak to get the drain here cleaned. However, Durgesh Pathak didn't listen to them. Arvind Kejriwal, Durgesh Pathak and the AAP government are entirely responsible for this incident," she added.
The students have also launched a protest against the MCD in front of the coaching centre. "The MCD says it is a disaster but I would call this complete negligence. My landlord said he had been asking the councillor to undertake drainage cleaning work for the last 10-12 days. We need to know the actual number of injuries and deaths," a student said.
