The death of three students at an IAS coaching institute in West Delhi’s old Rajinder Nagar has triggered a major protest in the area. Irate students held demonstrations outside the Rau Coaching Centre, where three students lost their lives after getting stuck in a basement that flooded due to heavy rains.
The students staged sit-ins and expressed their anger towards the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the management of an IAS coaching centre. One of the protesters named Yuvraj, a UPSC aspirant, criticised both the MCD and the coaching institute for negligence.
“MCD is responsible… they did not ensure safety measures. Both MCD and RAU’s IAS are at fault, they should be held jointly liable. We have been protesting since last night but no higher authority has spoken to us yet. We expect that the death toll may be higher,” the aspirant told ANI.
Protesters express concerns about students who are still trapped
Ankit Bhadana, another protester who is also a UPSC aspirant, pointed out that there are still students who are trapped inside the institute and whose whereabouts are still unknown.
“Approximately 20-25 students are trapped inside the old Old Rajinder Nagar coaching institute where the incident took place and their whereabouts are still unknown… No official from RAU’s IAS has come forward to give any official statement yet. The government also has not yet spoken to any of the students,” Bhadana told ANI.
In the visuals that are circulating online, the protesters can be seen hurling slogans and raising signs as they continue to express their anger over the matter. Some of the students mentioned that most of the libraries in such coaching centres are located in the basements which get “flooded in 10 minutes”. Hence, the students urged both the MCD and the government to take accountability over the matter.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a criminal case and stated that they are actively investigating the matter. “The unfortunate incident took place at one coaching centre at Old Rajindra Nagar, at the conclusion of search and rescue operations, 3 dead bodies were recovered. Their families have been informed. The case has been registered & the investigation is underway,” Delhi Police said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Water is being pumped out
When the news of the incident broke out, officials said that the rescue operation was getting hampered due to low visibility. They told the media that the water was being pumped out of the basement with the help of electric motor pumps. The fire department received a distress call around 7 pm on Saturday following which an immediate response team was dispatched to the area.
Officials tried to reach the trapped students on their mobile phones but they could not contact them as they were out of service.
“At 7 pm, we received information that the basement of a USPC coaching institute in Rajinder Nagar has been flooded with the possibility of some people trapped. There was waterlogging on the road due to heavy rains this evening. We are investigating the matter that how the entire basement got flooded. It appears that the basement got flooded very fast and some people got trapped inside the basement,” DCP Central M Harshavardhan said.
On Sunday, Harshvardhan stated that the operation is moving towards the final round. “The water is being pumped out continuously. One final round of search operations is pending. The operation is moving towards a conclusion. 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,” he explained.
With inputs from agencies.
Link to article –
