‘Students’ Lives Matter’: Protesters Blame Authorities For Death Of 3 IAS Aspirants At Delhi Coaching Centre

Hours after three students died in flooding of the basement of an IAS coaching centre, scores of youths living in and around Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar gathered outside the ill-fated building, demanding strict action against those responsible. The agitated students claimed the area gets flooded even in 10 minutes of rain, a reality ignored by the local authorities.

Three students died on Saturday after the basement of a coaching institute flooded in Rajinder Nagar in Delhi. The students were studying in the library at the Rau’s IAS Study Circle when a drain burst during heavy rain.

Speaking to News18, several students, protesting outside the building, said the lives of the students are not valued. They also claimed that several students from the area are missing, a claim rubbished by the authorities. However, the general fear among the students was that it could have been any of them in that basement.

‘COULD HAVE BEEN ANY ONE OF US’

“This was not the only incident and these were not the only students. Incidents keep happening in these areas on a regular basis, but as we are students, nobody really cares about what we are facing,” said Anjali Garg, a student from the area.

Garg said there was a nexus between coaching institutes, landlords and local authorities. “Students are protesting, but not even a single coaching owner or a single coaching teacher is here. It has been more than 18 hours. They take huge amounts of money from us. At the start, we were told that we are family, and even though we are away from home, we should not worry,” she added.

Hailing from Madhya Pradesh and being raised by a single mother, Garg also said the only family they have here are fellow students. “We are united and we want a solution,” she added.

Harish from Telangana also said in anger that students are harassed in almost every place and authorities don’t bother to check what is happening here. “Can you believe that authorities are not aware of what is the situation here? We have to pay Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for a small room. They study in rooms where there is no scope of survival in case of an emergency. We are from middle and lower middle-class families. We cannot afford fancy coaching centres and fancy rooms. Authorities are not bothered about these issues,” he said, adding politicians don’t bother about them as they are not voters.

Garg added: “They were not on the road, not partying, but writing papers… I don’t know any of those who died, but I am here with the feeling that I could have been among them too.”

‘CORRUPTION IS KILLING STUDENTS’

The IAS aspirants said the local authorities know that as students, they can’t sit on roads for long. “We have to go back to studies. Our parents will force us too. We are not farmers that can sit on the road for months protesting,” she said.

Ravikant and Vedant from Maharashtra’s Solapur moved to Delhi two years ago. They did their engineering together and are now living and preparing for IAS together. They blamed corruption and lack of empathy for students on repeated incidents. “I went to an underground coaching centre a few weeks ago… Mukherjee Nagar fire incident took place last year only and fire approval is important to run a coaching centre. The building had an MCD certificate, but the fire water system was not connected. You can see pipes across the rooms, but they were not connected to each other and yet there was a certificate at the main gate. Is this not pure corruption,” asked Ravikant.

He went on to say that corruption is so rampant that it has started killing students. “We are preparing to be policymakers. What are we learning? What is the system teaching us? Why is there water on the road? Why is there no drainage? Why are drainage lines not maintained? The students are not here to die in drain water,” he said.

Vedant blamed the authorities, too, saying coaching centers, hotels or canteens in the area are not regularly inspected. “We can clearly see what is happening. Are they blind? The officials involved in corruption are not sending their kids here. But we are from the poor and middle-class families who have to let go of a huge sum of their savings to send us here,” he said.

‘FLOODING AN ISSUE FOR 40-50 YEARS’

Joining the students in protest was also 52-year-old Jyoti Sharma, a resident from the area. She said flooding in the monsoon is a regular event here for at least 40-50 years. “I was born here and got married here too. I don’t remember if there was ever a monsoon or rain when this area didn’t flood,” Sharma said.

On being asked her reason for joining the students in protest, she said that while this was a commercial building, it could have been anyone’s house too. She stands with the students’ demands for a proper drainage system in the area. “I could not sleep the whole night thinking what would have happened if my house was impacted and water level had increased? I live on the ground floor, how much water will it take to fill my house and drown me in sleep?” she said in anger.