New Delhi: Three aspirants of civil services died after they were trapped in the basement of Rao IAS Center flooding in New Delhi’s Old Rajendra Nagar on Saturday. According to police officials, the fire department received a call regarding waterlogging at Rao IAS Center basement at 7PM after which they launched a rescue operation. Atul Garg, fire officer said that five fire vehicles reached the spot as soon as they received the information.
The basement housed the library of the UPSC coaching centre where students would go for self-study. The Met department’s PUSA weather station, closest to Old Rajinder Nagar, had reported 31.5 mm of rain between 5.30 pm and 8.30 pm on Saturday. According to eyewitnesses, the basement filled with 10-12 feet of water in almost no time, giving students no chance to escape. A faculty member also said when the flooding first began, a call was made to 112, but traffic jams led to delays in rescuers reaching there.
NDRF first retrieved the body of a female student from the site during the rescue operation. Hours later bodies of two other students were also found. When NDRF, local police, and fire department began the rescue operation, there were around 30 students inside the coaching center when the flooding began. While 13 to 14 of them were rescued and taken to the hospital, others escaped the site.
A police case be filed against the Delhi government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Jal Board, and the power distribution company (Discom). Rs 1 crore ex gratia has been announced to the families of the deceased from the Delhi government and the owner of the institute has been detained.
Rao IAS Center Flooding, MCD Reacts
According to DCP Central M Harshavardhan, the rescue operations were still underway, and the water was being pumped out. “There is still about seven feet of water in the basement,” he told. However, the rescue operation is moving towards a conclusion as only one final round of search is pending, the police said.
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has directed the MCD Commissioner that strict action should be taken against such coaching centres across Delhi which are under the jurisdiction of MCD and running commercial activities in basements which are in violation of building bye-laws and are not as per norms.
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