Delhi basement tragedy: Three IAS aspirants killed due to flooding

Three IAS aspirants died in Delhi when a basement library flooded during heavy rain. The tragedy occurred despite prior warnings about safety risks. Authorities have launched investigations and crackdowns on illegal coaching centers in response.

In a sad incident that occurred on Saturday evening, three of the persons who are preparing for civil services ended up being killed after the basement of the Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Rajinder Nagar area of Delhi was flooded due to rain. The victims have been named as Tania Soni and Shreya Yadav, both aged 25 years, and Navin Delvin, 28 years of age at the time of the incident, who were among twenty students taking refuge in the basement library.

The event has caused much anger and people take to the streets; the efforts of the civic authorities and AAP government are termed as negligence. It may be recalled that a civil service aspirant called Kishor Singh Kushwah had given a complaint through the government’s public grievance redressal portal of the state a month prior to the tragedy expressing his concerns about the dangers of using the basement as a library. Kushwah further states that he wrote several letters to the Centre, state government, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) regarding the dangers.

Subsequently, to curb such practices, the MCD has embarked on a campaign to shut down unauthorized coaching centers and over the weekend sealed 13 buildings in the Old Rajinder Nagar area for using basements without permission. It is worth to mention that the owner and coordinator of Rau’s IAS Study Circle have been charged for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi has directed authorities to investigate whether the MCD officials were responsible for negligence in the tragedy or not. The MCD has claimed that the construction of basement was legal to be used for storage and parking and not for library or classroom.

Also Read: Tragic Incident of Three Students Drowned in Flooded Delhi Coaching Centre

The case has brought into question the security measures in place for coaching centers in the region with Kushwah accusing those centers of having violated safety standards and bribery of security officials for approval. Concerns have also been raised as to how such a calamity was able to happen and what was done to prevent it from happening and what is being done to prevent other such occurrences in the future.