New Delhi: IAS aspirants are staging protest over the death of three students who drowned in the flooded library of Rau's IAS Study Circle on Saturday night in Central Delhi. Terming the accident a disaster, they alleged that more students are feared trapped in the library that functions in the basement of the building.
Police confirmed that the three including a man and two women are from Kerala, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. Manorama News reported that Ernakulam native Nevin Dalvin, son of Lancelet TS was the Malayali killed in the accident. Nevin who is also a research scholar at JNU reportedly reached the library around 10 on Saturday morning. The other two are: Shreya Yadav, native of Ambedkar Nagar district of UP, Tanya Soni from Telangana.

Angry students have been staging a protest in front of the coaching centre since Saturday night alleging that lapses of the civic body in cleaning the clogged drainage led to the accident that claimed the lives of their friends. The IAS aspirants demanded a strict police action against those responsible for criminal negligence. A huge force is deployed in front of the centre to control the protesters.

security-at-rau-coaching-centre
Tight security is placed in the centre. Photo: PTI

“ There was a wall in front of the coaching centre. Usually, it blocked water from entering the building. But following its collapse, water gushed into the building and flooded the basement. Over 40 students were in the building during that time. The majority of them managed to flee from there. But the three students got stranded in the library,” a Malayali student explained about the incident.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal reached the centre on Sunday morning to pacify the protesters.Though a group of students blocked Maliwal alleging she was playing politics over the tragedy, she pacified them declaring solidarity with their protest. She termed the deaths as murders and condemned the negligence of the government in finding a solution to the waterlogging in the area. 

“This is not a natural disaster. It’s a murder. FIR should be registered and strict action must be taken against those who are involved in this. Rs 1 crore compensation should be given to the families of the students who lost their lives. Delhi government Ministers conduct press conferences in AC rooms. Delhi Mayor earlier asked people to enjoy the monsoon. Is this enjoyment? There is anger among students. They have been sitting here since last night but no one yet came to meet them,” said MP Swati Maliwal.

The students claimed that complete negligence of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) led to the deaths. They alleged that the coaching centre was operating the library in the basement illegally without any safety measures. A UPSC aspirant told media that many centres in Delhi are operating libraries in the basement of the buildings.

The library in the basement could seat 150 people. There were many students there at the time of the accident. Some news outlets reported that an overflowing drain near the coaching centre caused the mishap. Due to the narrow exit passage, students got trapped inside, a student said.

"Usually, the wall in front of the coaching centre prevents water from seeping in. When it collapsed, the water gushed in. There were about 40 students in the library yesterday. Most ran away. But these three got stuck there," a Malayali IAS aspirant told Manorama Online, referring to the deceased students.

Police register case, owner of coaching centre held
DCP Central M Harshavardhan told media that a case has been registered against coaching institute, management of the building and those who are responsible for the maintenance of the drainage in the area. 

“So far we have detained the owner and coordinator of that coaching centre...further investigation is underway. Case was registered under sections 105, 106 (1), 115 (2), 290 and 35 of BNS. Along with Delhi Police and Delhi Fire Service, NDRF was also involved in the rescue operations. By the end of the search...three bodies were recovered from the basement. All of them have been identified and the family members have been informed,” he told media.

"NDRF's search operation has ended and three bodies have been recovered. NDRF's rescue operation went on for around seven hours."
Police is looking at CCTV footage to understand the sequence of events, the DCP said.

Following the accident, Delhi mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi issued an order asking the MCD commisioner to take strict action against coaching centres which are functioning illegally.

“All such coaching centres across Delhi which are under the jurisdiction of MCD and running commercial activities in basements which are in violation of building bye-laws and are not as per norms, strict action should be taken against them immediately,” reads the order.

She said that an immediate inquiry to be conducted to identify if any officers of MCD are responsible for this tragedy. If any official is found guilty, strongest possible action be taken against them.

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