Delhi coaching centre drownings: MHA forms probe panel; Chief Secy submits report

The Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted a committee to inquire into the Delhi coaching centre flooding incident and said it will look into the reasons, fix responsibility, suggest measures, and recommend policy changes.

Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar on Monday (July 29) submitted in his report to Delhi Revenue Minister Atishi that the central district magistrate has been directed to ascertain the cause of the incident and fix the responsibility of the people concerned.

Earlier in the day, the minister had flagged a delay in the submission of the magisterial inquiry report on the Old Rajinder Nagar coaching centre incident in a note to Kumar and had asked him to submit it by 10 pm.

Chief Secretary’s report

The chief secretary, in its report, has stated that the District Magistrate (Central) will submit his detailed report regarding the incident in some time.

Three IAS aspirants — Shreya Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana and Nevin Dalwin from Kerala — died after the basement of a building housing Rau’s IAS Study Circle coaching institute was flooded following rain on Saturday evening.

The interim report was provided by additional chief secretary but since the road concerned with the incident belongs to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), a report was also sought from the civic body, Kumar said in the report.

Heads roll

The MCD in its report informed that assistant engineer responsible for maintenance of drains system of area has been suspended with immediate effect and services of junior engineer has been terminated.

The chief secretary’s report further said that desilting reports were sought from the six organisations — Irrigation and Flood Control, PWD, MCD, NDMC, DDA and Delhi Cantonment Board — and have already been submitted to the Minister (UD) on June 6.

The Urban Development department has already written to all the departments to get the third-party audit of desilting done in compliance of the orders of the Hon'ble High Court, it added.

Atishi’s warning

Atishi in her note earlier said, “I had given directions at 11.20 pm on Saturday (27th July) regarding initiating a magisterial enquiry into the deaths of three IAS aspirants in Rajinder Nagar area... A report by the magisterial committee was to be submitted to the office of the undersigned within 24 hours. However, ... am shocked to note that despite almost 40 hours having passed, I am yet to receive any official report or information from the Chief Secretary on the incident.”

The minister said either “the officers of the Delhi government are not serious about enquiring into this tragedy, or they are trying to protect someone”.

“The fact that the main accused runs an IAS coaching, one wonders whether he is well connected with the IAS fraternity. Such delays cannot be tolerated,” she had said.

“The Chief Secretary is again directed to submit the magisterial enquiry report on the incident by 10 pm today (July 29)...Suggest strongest possible action that needs to be taken against those officials whose negligence has caused this tragic incident. Any further delays will raise questions as to whether any culprits are being protected,” Atishi had said.

Saurabh Bharadwaj’s claim

Earlier in the day, Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that he wrote several times since February to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to chalk out a comprehensive strategy for drain desilting but he evaded responding to the matter.

Addressing a press conference, Bharadwaj said drain desilting work in the city has not been carried out the way it should have and blamed the “negligence” of officials for the death of the three civil service aspirants due to rain-induced flooding in the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar.

“No IAS officer turned up”

“On February 6 this year, I had issued a notice for meeting of all departments to chalk out a comprehensive strategy to prevent waterlogging during monsoon. This meeting was scheduled for February 13 but not even one IAS officer turned up.

“Only executive engineers of departments were present. Since various departments were not represented by their heads, the chairman, that is me, expressed displeasure over the same. This is also mentioned in the minutes of the meeting,” he added.

“No action”

Bharadwaj said he wrote a note on February 23 to take action against the heads of departments for not attending the meeting but he did not do anything.

“On May 20, I wrote again to the chief secretary on the importance of desilting and departments like Irrigation and Flood Control, MCD, and NDMC should share their plans about it but there was no response. After a fortnight, I again wrote to him but there was no reply,” he alleged.

The minister alleged that on June 6, he received an “absurd” reply from Kumar.

“Such a letter from the chief secretary in any other state would have led to his suspension. He (Kumar) said that the High Court was monitoring the waterlogging situation in the capital and they (bureaucrats) had informed the court,” he said.

“HC misled”

He alleged that Kumar even misled the high court about the waterlogging and desilting of drains in the capital.

“The Centre gave two extensions to Naresh Kumar as CS of Delhi. He is ruining the city. The CS gave in writing that the minister (Bharadwaj) cannot seek details of desilting citing model code of conduct,” he claimed.

Bharadwaj said a contempt of court case should be filed against the officials concerned as they submitted a false report before the High Court regarding the cleaning of drains.

“The chief secretary even misled the high court about the desilting of drains in Delhi,” he claimed.

The minister said he also complained about this to the Union Home Minister’s Office through a letter on June 14.

Bharadwaj said after constantly pursuing officials he was given a list of drains that had been cleaned on June 20.

“The cleaning of drains is being done only on paper and huge amounts are being given to the contractors... open corruption is going on. Even after this, no action is being taken by either the central government or the chief secretary,” he said.

MCD action

The MCD, on its part, has initiated a three-pronged action, including sealing of illegally run basements and demolition of encroachment done on stormwater drains, the civic body’s commissioner Ashwani Kumar said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters, he said the issue of illegally run coaching centres with poor security measures is faced across the national capital and the MCD will crack down on such institutes through its sealing drive.

Kumar said, “Firstly, we have demolished the encroachment on the stormwater drains built on both sides of the road that was completely covered by people which led to waterlogging and even made it difficult to de-silt the drains. We have also carried out an anti-encroachment drive to demolish illegal structures and recover these drains in the area. Secondly, we have stepped up sealing of basements of coaching institutes illegally operating and posing threat to the safety and security of students. The sealing drive will be carried out in other areas as well where such institutes are operating. Thirdly, we have taken action against the engineers of the maintenance department responsible for containing the waterlogging. The junior engineer of the of the Karol Bagh zone, where the incident took place, has been terminated and the assistant engineer suspended,”

“A show-cause notice has also been issued to the executive engineer seeking explanation on why timely action was not taken to contain the waterlogging,” he said.

Kumar gave the statement before attending an emergency meeting of officials called by Mayor Shelly Oberoi to take update on the situation.

“Enforcement issue”

“The coaching centres are not only being illegally run from basement in that particular area (Old Rajinder Nagar). We have got to know that such establishments are operating in many other parts of the city. In these areas, the basements are either completely illegal or being misused to run coaching centres,” he said, calling the incident an “enforcement issue”.

The MCD carries out de-silting of the drains through both outsourcing and in-house sanitation workers. In the case of Old Rajinder Nagar case, the stormwater drain used to carry away excess water during heavy rains was completely encroached, he said, adding that “it is a big issue faced across Delhi making cleaning of drains difficult”.

Kumar further said there is a need to set up a dedicated space in the city for coaching centres where these institutes can run formally with all due safety measures to curb illegal setups.

“Huge requirement for coaching”

“In Delhi, there is a huge requirement for coaching. People from different states come to study here. Therefore, there is a need for a dedicated space where people can open coaching centres formally with all due security measures and arrangements. This would curb the illegal basements problem,” he said.

This was the commissioner’s first media interaction after three IAS aspirants died due to flooding of the Rau's IAS Study Circle building basement in the central Delhi coaching hub of Old Rajinder Nagar following heavy rain last week.

Police have arrested seven people in this connection so far and 20 basements of coaching centres in Old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar have been sealed by the agency.

Rs 10 lakh compensation

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Monday announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the families of each of the three victims who died after flooding of the basement of a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar.

The Joint Task Force of MCD and DFS, constituted under the order of the Delhi High Court in the fire incident at a coaching centre at Mukherjee Nagar earlier this year, will also undertake a survey of all buildings in Rajinder Nagar area, it said.

It will seal off all basements and other illegal structures which are in violation of building byelaws, MPD 2021 and fire safety norms, the statement said.

The Joint Task Force will also undertake similar audit in Mukherjee Nagar, Kalu Sarai, Neb Sarai, Ber Sarai, Vijay Nagar, Outram Line, Hudson Line, Gupta Colony, and other coaching hubs of the city and seal off all illegal basements and other illegal structures, it added.

The LG also promised for putting in place a regulatory mechanism for rationalizing and fixing rent as soon as possible, over the complaint of protesters that they were charged exorbitant rents.

(With agency inputs)