Delhi Coaching Centre Deaths News Highlights: Delhi coaching centre deaths: Centre forms probe panel; LG announces Rs 10L aid to family

The BJP on Sunday hit out at the AAP-led Delhi government over the coaching centre flooding incident that claimed the lives of three civil services aspirants, calling it a "murder" and demanded the resignation of Water Minister Atishi.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva also demanded Rs 3 crore compensation for the families of the three students who died in the incident which took place in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday.

"This is a murder, not any accident," said Sachdeva.

"This happened due to record breaking corruption of AAP that is ruling both the Delhi government and the MCD. If there is any shame left, both minister Atishi and AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak, who is in-charge of MCD, should resign," he said at a press conference.

Of the three civil service aspirants who drowned in the flooded basement of a coaching centre, one each was a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University. Three students died after the basement of the Rau's IAS Study Circle building in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area was flooded following a heavy rain on Saturday evening.

Tanya Soni, 21, who had come from Telangana, was a native of Bihar's Aurangabad and a student of Delhi University, a friend, who did not wish to be named, said.

She had been staying at a women's hostel of DU's Maharaja Agrasen College and had had taken admission in the coaching institute one and a half months ago, her friend said.

According to the friend, Tanya's her father works in a mining company in Telangana. She had two younger siblings, a brother and a sister.

On Sunday, her parents took her body to Aurangabad for the last rites after a post mortem at RML hospital.

The body of Shreya Yadav, one the three students who died in Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar coaching centre incident, was taken away from the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after post-mortem.

The students lost their lives after the basement of a coaching institute was filled with water on Saturday evening. According to the police, the victims have been identified as Shreya Yadav, a native of Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana; and Nivin Dalwin, a resident of Kerala's Ernakulam.

Meanwhile, Dharmendra Yadav, relative of Shreya Yadav, demanded a case of culpable homicide be registered against the institute's owner.

The Old Rajendra Nagar area in Delhi, where three civil services aspirants tragically lost their lives after being trapped in the basement of a coaching institute during heavy rains, had its storm drains covered by encroachers, according to a senior MCD official.

Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) organized a demonstration in front of the home of Shelly Oberoi, the Mayor of Delhi. The protest was held in response to the tragic loss of three students' lives when the basement of a coaching center in Old Rajinder Nagar was inundated with water the previous day.

The ABVP activists gathered to express their grievances and demand action from the authorities.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday expressed condolences over the death of three students who lost their lives when the basement of a coaching centre in New Delhi got flooded following heavy rainfall in the national capital. Ernakulam native Nevin Delvin, a research student at JNU, was among those who lost their lives in the incident, Vijayan said.

"It's unfortunate that three civil service aspirants lost their lives in a flooding incident at a coaching centre in New Delhi," Vijayan said in his condolence message. Twenty-three-year-old Nevin was a resident of Neeleeswaram in Ernakulam.

Abhishek Yadav revealed that the tragic incident that occurred in the heart of the nation's capital has left the family devastated. Since the unfortunate event, the coaching institute has not reached out to the grieving family

"My sister Shreya died due to flooding in the basement of the coaching in Old Rajender Nagar in the national capital. The coaching institute has made no contact with the family since the incident": Abhishek Yadav said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has initiated action against coaching centres flouting norms and it will set up a high-level committee to probe the incident that claimed three lives due to flooding in a coaching centre's basement, MCD officials said.

Establishments running illegally from the basement have been identified and a drive to take action against them has started, an official said.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur criticized the AAP government's handling of Delhi's infrastructure and safety measures. He pointed out the tragic incident where three students lost their lives by drowning in a basement in Old Rajender Nagar.

Thakur said, "What they (AAP government) have made Delhi today. They wanted to make Delhi a city of lakes, but 3 students died drowning in a basement (in Old Rajender Nagar). This is Arvind Kejriwal's model in the country's capital. This is the Aam Aadmi Party's model. In what condition have they brought the people to? Ask those families who lost their young children, what they must be going through, who were sending them to coaching centres for their bright future. Who knew that they would lose them? This is the kind of politics they are doing..."

According to BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, the incident was brought to Pathak's attention on July 22, but no action was taken. Swaraj said, "It is not about allegations and counter allegations. On 22 July, this was brought to the notice of AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak...No action was taken...AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak is responsible for the death of the children...MCD, the Delhi Jal Board, and the cleanliness of drainage are all under the governance of the Arvind Kejriwal government...This tragedy was completely avoidable..."

According to Delhi Fire Services chief Atul Garg, the coaching institute also falsely reported the basement's use to the fire department. Garg said,

"The building has fire NOC, but in the NOC they had shown the basement as a store room. The management of the institute was using the same room as a classroom or library which is a violation of the NOC."

"I have asked the Divisional Commissioner to submit a report, covering every aspect of the tragic incident by Tuesday. While nothing can bring back the precious young lives lost due to apathy of the administration and criminal misconduct of those running coaching institutions, responsibility of those who caused the loss of lives, will be fixed and guilty will be brought to book."

"It is not just an accident, it is a murder committed by the Aam Aadmi Party. It is criminal negligence. The question is who will take the responsibility. There have been several deaths. Do the lives of the people of Delhi hold no value?," Poonawalla asked in a self-made video.

Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg said the institute was functioning in violation of the norms of the fire department.

"The building has fire NOC, but in the NOC they had shown the basement will be used as store room. The management of the institute was using the same room as a classroom or library which is a violation of the NOC"

"This is a man-made tragedy. It is not a natural disaster. How was a coaching centre running in the basement? Did they have licenses? Did they have all the papers from MCD? We have not got answers to these questions. It is very easy to question each other and make allegations and counter-allegations but the common man is suffering in this... Such an insensitive government in the national capital is extremely wrong, be it MCD or the government"

Shreya Yadav, a 22-year-old civil service aspirant from Barsawa Hashimpur village in Ambedkar Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, tragically lost her life along with two other students, Taniya Soni and Naveen Dalvin, when they were trapped inside a flooded basement of Rau's IAS study circle in Old Rajendra Nagar, New Delhi on Saturday evening.

AAP MP Swati Maliwal expressed her outrage on Sunday over the delayed response to the deaths of three civil service aspirants at an IAS coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar, West Delhi.

She insisted that the incident should be classified as 'murder' rather than a disaster. Maliwal called for an FIR to be filed against the responsible government officials, criticizing the lack of response from Delhi government ministers, the mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and other officers, even hours after the tragedy.

Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala were identified to have died in the incident, police said.

"We have visited the spot of incident and spoke to the family members of the victim. This shouldn't have happened...there is no proper drainage system in Delhi...coaching centre owners conduct classes and set up library in the basement without proper permission from the govt...we demand a safety audit of all the coaching centres and strict rules against them. The govt is promoting these coaching centres as the officials and authorities are collecting huge amount of money from coaching centre owners."

One person who has lost his life was from JNU. We along with his PhD supervisor are here (hospital) to identify him. Students come here from different places with dreams. It’s unfortunate that around three students have lost their lives,” says former JNU student union president Ayushi Ghosh.

“I met with the families of two girl students who lost their lives. They are crying and only demanding strict actions against those who are involved in this. It’s shameful that no (AAP) Minister and (Delhi) Mayor have come here yet to meet them."

Three young lives were lost because of water entering into the basement of a coaching centre. This can't be a natural disaster, this is a man-made disaster. The students had come from far-off places to study in Delhi. But what is the system of filtering out illegal structures from legal structures? Is the MCD looking into it? What about the drainage system? All these questions plague these controversies around these deaths. Last week, a student died after touching a live wire. Is this how we should treat students coming to Delhi? Action has to be taken, accountability has to be fixed, and Delhi cannot be seen as such an insensitive city."

Sachin Sharma, additional DCP of Delhi police, addressed the USPC students who were demonstrating against the death of three aspirants caused by water-logging. In his heartfelt appeal, he expressed his shared sentiments with the protesters, stating, "I am feeling the same emotions as you because I am a part of you."

I have taken an oath of MLC. The main issue is rain. The second issue is imbalance in society. It is a very sad incident (coaching centre deaths in Delhi). The officials should console the affected.

The number of seats on which the parties of Mahayuti alliance will contest will be decided by the party's core committee and the leaders in Delhi. We will declare it after it gets decided," says BJP leader Pankaja Munde after taking oath as an MLC.

The water has receded now but enough is enough. This is a completely criminal activity, strict action should be taken against the officials who are responsible... Desilting (of drain) was done but still, there should be an inquiry and if someone is responsible, strict action should be taken... Delhi's drainage system has collapsed and the reason for this is that BJP was in power for 15 years. We have been here for the last 1 year and are working on the drains, but I do not want to get into any blame game, I want it to be investigated and strict action should be taken against whoever is responsible.

The death of competitive students due to waterlogging in the basement of a building in Delhi is very unfortunate. A few days ago, a student died due to electric shock during the rains.

I express my heartfelt condolences to all the bereaved families.

This collapse of infrastructure is a collective failure of the system.

The common citizen is paying the price of unsafe construction, poor town planning and irresponsibility of institutions at every level by losing his life.

Safe and comfortable life is the right of every citizen and the responsibility of the governments.

"We demand that firstly, all these illegally operating libraries in basements be shut down. MCD should address the issue immediately. Last time when it rained, cars were floating. In one year, they haven't done anything... no senior official has visited this place till now," a protesting student said.

Another student protesting against the MCD also highlighted the issue of basement safety, "80 per cent of libraries here are in basements. Water accumulates within 10 minutes of rainfall. MCD has not taken action on this."

Responding to minister Atishi's order for a magisterial inquiry, another protester said, "We want someone from the government to take responsibility for the students who lost their lives. How are they improving anyone's future by tweeting or writing from their AC rooms?"

Another student criticised the response to the incident, "MCD calls it a disaster but I say this is negligence. Knee-deep water gathers in half an hour of rain. My landlord has been asking the councillor for days to clean the drain... Our immediate demand is transparency in the number of injuries and deaths."

The incident of the death of three students due to water logging in the basement of a coaching institute in Delhi is heartbreaking. I pray to God for the departed souls and the grieving families.

Recently a student died due to electric shock in Patel Nagar. It is the height of carelessness and mismanagement that the lives of children who come here from far-off places to fulfill their dreams are being snatched away from them.

This is criminal and irresponsible. Accountability must be fixed and most importantly, every construction, every activity that is illegal and life-threatening in the areas where competitive students live must be rectified.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Central, M Harshavardhan, announced that a case has been registered against the coaching institute, the building's management, and those responsible for the drain's maintenance.

"The case, filed under sections 105, 106(1), 115(2), 290, and 35 of BNS, targets the coaching institute, the building management, and those in charge of the drain maintenance. So far, we have detained the owner and coordinator of the coaching center. Further investigation is ongoing," DCP Harshavardhan told ANI.

"I want an immediate CBI inquiry into the misuse of desilting funds by both these governments. Crores of rupees have been spent on desilting, but nothing has happened on the ground."