In the latest updates, the owner and coordinator of Rau’s IAS, the coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar, Delhi, have been arrested. This arrest was made after three UPSC aspirants lost their lives to the waterlogging and flood in the coaching centre’s basement area.
This waterlogging wasn’t the first incident that occurred recently. The issues of waterlogging were reported before this incident, only to be upheld with negligence.
Now, the MCD has woken up to identify the coaching centres and notify them for neglecting the building norms. Norms that have remained ignored in the areas of Mukherjee Nagar and Rajinder Nagar causing the mushroom growth of buildings in these areas.
Violations and notifications
As per an MCD official, after the massive fire mishap in the Mukherjee Nagar area in 2023, that bounded students to jump off the building to save their lives, the MCD conducted a survey of coaching centres in which the Rau’s IAS study circle was found violating the building norms of Delhi and running from the basement up to the third floor. A show-cause notice was sent to the institute’s owner subsequently in August 2023 but a deaf ear was put to it and nothing changed in the coaching institute.
#WATCH | Delhi | Old Rajinder Nagar Incident | On biometric access to accommodations and libraries in the area, Punit Singh, a student, says, “Entry and exits of most of the buildings here are controlled by biometrics. In case of an emergency or unforeseen incident, there is no… pic.twitter.com/sCxMxs1Yyj
— ANI (@ANI) July 29, 2024
Yet the NOC
After the show-cause notice received no response from the coaching owner, the matter was escalated to the deputy commissioner of Karol Bagh zone. The owner managed to get the fire no-objection certificate (NOC) on July 9.
Notably, the crucial fir NOC was given to this coaching centre which has no balcony to connect with outside in case of any disaster or mishap. It runs a full-fledged library in the basement where occupancy of people isn’t permitted but was allowed only for godown.
Many students were stuck in the drainage water because even the basement part required a biometric system to exit which then remained closed to avoid electrocution.
