Delhi coaching centre tragedy: MHA forms probe committee; report to be submitted in 30 days

New Delhi: As the drowning of three civil service aspirants in a Delhi coaching centre’s basement triggered outrage, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday set up a committee to probe the incident even as police arrested five more persons and capital’s municipal corporation deploying bulldozers to demolish encroachments where the incident took place.

The committee’s probe into the incident that took place in Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday will look into “reasons, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes”.

A Joint Secretary in MHA will be convenor of the panel, which will have an Housing and Urban Development Additional Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home, Delhi), Special Commissioner (Delhi Police) and Fire Advisor as members.

As a political slugfest between AAP and BJP ensued, the Delhi Police wrote to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) asking about the status of desilting of drains near the Rajinder Nagar coaching centre where the flooding took the life of three youngsters on Saturday evening.

Delhi Revenue Minister Atishi expressed her displeasure over the non-submission of the magisterial inquiry report on the Rajinder Nagar tragedy by the Chief Secretary.

Police officials said five more people, including the driver of an SUV who drove the flooded street and caused the water to swell and breach the gates of the coaching centre, were arrested taking the total number of arrests to seven. All the five were sent to judicial custody.

Police is likely to question MCD officials about desilting of drains and the clearance certificate issued by them to the Rau's IAS Study Circle where the incident took place. The police will also ask the MCD to furnish the occupancy certificate of the building.

Facing flak over the incident, the MCD has already sacked a junior engineer and suspended an assistant engineer on charges of lapses in tackling the situation. The two officials are part of the maintenance department of the Karol Bagh Zone,

The MCD also launched an anti-encroachment drive using bulldozers in Rajinder Nagar besides initiating a sealing drive in Mukherjee Nagar too, which is another hub of coaching centres in the national capital.

Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said no person violating building bylaws and rules will be spared. The civic body said MCD officers inspected coaching centres being run in violation of rules in basements in Rajendra Nagar as well as Mukherjee Nagar.

It identified 16 coaching centres in Shahdara South Zone, out of which five were found vacant and action will be taken against others.

However, a civil service aspirant Kishore Singh Kushwah appeared to have exposed civic apathy as he posted a video in which he said he had complained to the MCD about classes and libraries being operated from the basements a month ago. He has demanded strict action against big UPSC coaching institutes which were allegedly violating rules and regulations, he said.

AAP and BJP protested against each other over the incident. The BJP staged a protest near the AAP office, demanding the resignation of the Arvind Kejriwal government while AAP protested near the L-G Secretariat to demand the sacking of officers who were allegedly responsible for the incident.