Three UPSC aspirants died after they were trapped in the basement of a coaching centre in Central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, which was flooded when a drain burst during heavy rain. The incident comes days after a UPSC aspirant was electrocuted on a waterlogged Delhi street. Around 7 pm on Saturday, the Delhi Fire Services received a call about flooding in the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle, and deployed five fire tenders for rescue operations, officials said. Divers from the National Disaster Response Force were also deployed to save the trapped students, though a faculty member at the coaching centre said that should have been prioritised instead of the fire tenders. According to officials, they pulled out the bodies of the two students – both women – one by one, first at 10:30 pm and then at 11:20 pm. According to DFS officials, the search for a third person believed to be trapped is still underway. According to students present at the spot on Saturday night, the basement housed the library of the coaching centre, where students would go for self-study. According to eyewitnesses, the basement filled with 10-12 feet of water in almost no time, giving students no chance to escape. 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. A faculty member said when the flooding first began, efforts were made to evacuate the students, and a call was made to 112, but traffic jams led to delays in rescuers reaching there. The incident also prompted a sharp attack on the ruling AAP from the BJP, which blamed the incident on the area legislator’s apathy. Aam Aadmi Party’s Durgesh Pathak, the MLA from Rajinder Nagar, said, “A drain burst at one point, due to which this issue has occurred. Pumps have been placed to remove the water. Had it been due to lack of desilting (of drains), water would have accumulated in other buildings as well, but the basement of only one building has been submerged because the drain burst at only one point.” Waterlogging and desilting of drains has been a political flashpoint in the capital, with the opposition BJP frequently accusing the AAP-run Public Works Department and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi of not doing enough. #ExpressDelhi | Rescue ops underway after flooding in UPSC coaching centre basement leaves one student dead Watch here: pic.twitter.com/bq3dInk4dI — The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) July 27, 2024 BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj, the MP from New Delhi MP, said, "People were continuously asking the MLA to clean the Rajendra Nagar naala. But no one heard them. That's the reason for this catastrophe. Durgesh Pathak was called, texted, pleaded with, but the drain was not cleaned. Electrocution of students, then drowning of students. They have come here to study and this is what they are getting from the AAP government.” The electrocution Swaraj was referring to took place on the afternoon of July 22, when 26-year-old Nilesh Rai, a UPSC aspirant, was heading back to his paying guest accommodation in South Patel Nagar. According to officials, he touched an iron gate near his PG building to cross a waterlogged section, and immediately slumped to the ground. Officials say the gate had electricity running through it since a naked wire was in contact. PWD Minister Atishi directed the Chief Secretary to submit a report on Saturday’s incident within 24 hours. “Strongest possible action needs to be taken against those whose negligence has caused this incident. Whoever is found guilty should not be spared and action needs to be taken against them on priority,” she said. Rajender Nagar is known in the national capital – and the country – as a hub of coaching centres and paying guest accommodations, with students coming from far and wide with hopes of cracking entrance examinations. In June last year, more than 60 people were injured in a fire that broke out at a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar, another such hub.
