Rouse IAS is a very famous coaching center in Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi, which is considered the stronghold of UPSC coaching. Like almost every coaching center in this area, here too there is a library in the basement. Students come here to study for the highest position in the country. There was waterlogging in the entire area during the rain on Saturday evening. The place outside the coaching center is quite high from the road. There is parking here on the ground floor. There is a way to go to the basement from this parking lot.
The library of the coaching center is in this basement. Preparing students come here every day. A student present in the basement during this accident said that a call was made to the police by the students at 6.40 pm, but by the time help reached it was already 9 pm. When the fire department got information about water coming into the coaching centre, there was chaos. The basement was filled with water up to 10 to 12 feet. Students started being evacuated with the help of ropes.
NDRF team also reached the spot. But the whereabouts of 3 students were not known. The help of divers was taken for the search. By around 1.30 in the night the bodies of three students had been taken out from the basement. Pumps were installed to remove water. The work of draining water from the basement continued throughout the night. The work of cleaning the drainage was continuing till daybreak. But the question is that when there was waterlogging outside due to rain, what was the administration of the coaching center doing?
What were the arrangements for drainage of water in coaching? After all, where do coaching institutes get the courage to be so irresponsible that they are not afraid to play with the lives of students even after charging fees worth lakhs? Was permission taken to run a library in the basement here? If not, what was the police administration doing? Was this not paid attention to earlier, when similar libraries are being run in basements in this entire area?
After this accident, even though the police have arrested the coaching center owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh, the real culprit is the system. If the system was correct, this kind of accident would never have happened. Today there is mourning in the homes of those three students who lost their lives in this accident. Just imagine what that family would have gone through when they saw this painful scene in the news? What must be going through the parents whose dream world died untimely? Be it Delhi or any remote area, lakhs of students come to Delhi to prepare for the most prestigious government job in the country.
Nevin Dalvin, Shreya Yadav and Tanya Soni were also among them. All three were studying at Rouse IAS Coaching Center in Old Rajendra Nagar, Delhi. 28 year old Nevin Dalvin, resident of Ernakulam, Kerala, was doing PhD from JNU. He was preparing for UPSC by staying in Patel Nagar for the last eight months. During the rescue, Nevin’s body was taken out last by divers. As soon as the news was received, people started gathering at Nevin’s house.
Shreya Yadav was 25 years old. He had enrolled in coaching only last month. The family of Shreya, a resident of Ambedkarkar Nagar, UP, says that they had sent their daughter to Delhi with great expectations. His father is a farmer. The dream was that the daughter should become a senior officer. His uncle had seen the news of the accident on TV. As soon as he told his family about this accident, there was chaos in the entire family. People came running to Delhi.
The third victim of this accident, student Tanya Soni, had come to Delhi from Telangana. 25 year old Tanya’s dreams also got drowned due to Delhi’s deadly negligence. Just four days ago, Nilesh Rai, a student preparing for UPSC, had died of electrocution in Patel Nagar, Delhi. He had done B.Tech and had also passed the UPSC prelims exam. These accidents not only ruined the happiness of the affected families but also filled the hearts of lakhs of families whose children stay in different areas of Delhi for coaching. There are many questions to which the police, administration and government have to answer.