Irate students are protesting against the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the management of an IAS coaching institute in West Delhi's Old Rajender Nagar, where three students lost their lives after the basement was flooded with rain water.
Yuvraj, a UPSC aspirant, criticised both the MCD and the coaching institute for negligence, stating, "The 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," Yuvraj told ANI.
Addressing safety concerns, another UPSC aspirant stated, "Our demand is that action should be taken against those responsible for this negligence. All these operations in the basement are illegal and lack safety measures. Action should be taken."
Another UPSC aspirant, Aman Shukla emphasized that the "illegal" operation of libraries in basements should be stopped.
"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," Shukla said.
The bodies of two female students and a male student were retrieved from the site during the rescue operation, which was also conducted by police and the fire department.
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.
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?"
One more 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."
Expressing frustration, a student remarked, "I think the main culprits here are the MCD and the institute's director who neglected students' interests."
The Delhi Police on Sunday detained the owner and coordinator of the coaching centre where three students died due to flooding following heavy rains, officials said.
Police has booked them under charges of culpable homicide among other charges, they said.
"We have registered an FIR at Rajinder Nagar Police Station under sections 105 (culpable homicide), 106(1) (death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide), 115(2) (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 290 (negligent conduct with respect to pulling down, repairing or constructing buildings) and 35 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and launched an investigation. So far we have detained two people -- owner and coordinator of the coaching centre," Deputy Commissioner of Police M Harsha Vardhan said.
