Month Before Delhi Basement Deaths, IAS Aspirant's SOS Flagged Huge Risk

A month before waterlogging in the basement of a building in Delhi's Rajinder Nagar left three civil service aspirants dead, a complaint had flagged risks in using the basement as a library or for holding classes.

Kishor Singh Kushwah, a civil service aspirant, says he had written to the Centre, the state government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi about how Rau's IAS Study Circle was using the basement as a library and endangering the lives of students and staff.

The MCD, it has emerged, had only allowed use of the basement for storage and parking.

The complaint, addressed to Kumar Mahendra, executive engineer of the building department in Karol Bagh zone, states that Rau's IAS is using the basement for classes without a No-Objection Certificate from the authorities. "This is endangering the lives of students and staff and may lead to a big accident," it adds. Mr Kushwah also alleged corruption and demanded strict action against UPSC coaching centres that are violating safety norms and putting students' lives in danger.

The complainant sent two reminders, urging authorities to take action. On July 15, he wrote: "Sir, it's very important and urgent issue, take strict action on it." In another reminder dated July 22, Mr Kushwah wrote: "Sir, please take action, it's (an) issue of student safety."

The online portal states that the matter is under process. Before the issue could be resolved, a downpour on Saturday evening led to the flooding of the basement. At least 20 students, who were in the library of the IAS coaching centre, were trapped. While some of them could be rescued, Tania Soni and Shreya Yadav, both 25, and Navin Delvin, 28, died. The incident has sparked protests and outrage as people accuse civic authorities and the Aam Aadmi Party government of negligence that cost the students their lives.

Kishor Singh Kushwah said he had complained against Rau's IAS Study Circle through the government's public grievance portal. "If the administration acted in time, this tragedy could have been avoided," he told IANS.

"All basement libraries in Rajinder Nagar are illegal. They have no FIR safety clearance. And the staircases are 3 feet - 4 feet wide, if there is an emergency, so many students cannot rush out easily," he said.

The civil service aspirant said he blames the administration for the students' death. "If they had taken strict action, this would not have happened. Officials of the administration take bribes and give clearance to such coaching centres and they never check if the rules are being followed. MCD is 100 per cent responsible," Mr Kushwah said.

Under fire, the MCD has now sealed 13 coaching centres in Old Rajinder Nagar area as part of a crackdown on illegal and dangerous use of basements. These include IAS Gurukul, Chahal Academy, Plutus Academy, Sai Trading, IAS Setu, Topper's Academy, Dainik Samvad, Civils Daily IAS, Career Power, 99 Notes, Vidya Guru, Guidance IAS, and Easy for IAS. "These coaching centres were found to be operating in basements in violation of rules and they were sealed on the spot and notices were pasted," a statement said.

Delhi Police have arrested the owner and coordinator of the IAS coaching centre after the basement tragedy. They face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death due to negligence. "A gross criminal negligence is found on part of the owner of the institute in ensuring safety measures as the library in the basement was running illegally and had only one entry and exit point that was biometric-enabled and got locked due to the flooding," an MCD official told PTI.

Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi has ordered a probe into the incident to find out if any MCD officer is involved in the negligence that led to the tragedy. She has also said all coaching centres that have violated the law would face action.