New Delhi: Three civil services aspirant died and several were trapped, after a nearby drain burst leading to flooding in the basement of a UPSC coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar in the national capital.

“Three students who lost their lives after the basement of the institute was filled with water yesterday were residents of Kerala, Telangana and UP. All bodies have been sent to RML mortuary,” the Delhi Police said in a statement on Sunday.

Fire brigade officials said five fire engines were dispatched after they received a call about students being stuck in the basement at 7.19 pm on Saturday. The bodies of two female students were pulled out hours after the rescue operation began. The body of the third student, a male, was recovered later into the night.

Visuals from Rajendra Nagar showed the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle completely flooded.

After seven hours of rescue efforts, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) ended its search at the coaching centre on Sunday. “The NDRF’s search operation has ended, and three bodies have been recovered. The NDRF’s rescue operation went on for around seven hours,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) M Harsha Vardhan told news agency PTI,

The building where the coaching centre was running in Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar area did not have a fire NoC, according India Today.

The incident comes days after a UPSC aspirant was electrocuted while trying to cross a waterlogged street in Patel Nagar, also in Delhi.

PROTESTS

The deaths had students hitting the streets to protest against the MCD and the coaching institute. “80% of libraries here are in basements. Water gets logged here in 10 minutes of rainfall. MCD has not taken action on this…” said a protesting student.

The angry students held an overnight protest outside the institute and a stir that is still underway.

Another student said they have gathered here because the administration really needs to understand that they are accountable for what they have done and they are answerable to us all. “The director of RAU’s really needs to come out and give his statement. The MCD employees should come here and retract their statement that this is a natural calamity because this happened due to your negligence. We also want Rs 5 crore compensation each to the deceased,” said an UPSC aspirant.

She added that the deceased were preparing to appear for the Mains.

“MCD says it is a disaster but I would say that this is complete negligence. Knee-deep water gets logged in half an hour of rain. Disaster is something that happens sometimes. My landlord said that he had been asking the councillor for the last 10-12 days that the drain must be cleaned… The first demand is that action should be taken against the culprits. Immediate demand is that the actual number of injuries and deaths should be told… People of disaster management told me that 8-10 people have died…” another student claimed.

POLITICAL REACTIONS

“Dedicated workers from the BJP repeatedly asked Durgesh Pathak to ensure that the sewers in this area are cleaned and de-silted. If that had been done, this tragedy would not have happened. You can see there’s 2-3 foot of water on the road, which inundated the basement. People are saying divers had to go in, so you can imagine how bad the situation is. The AAP government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and MLA Durgesh Pathak are responsible for the tragedy and the death

– Bansuri Swaraj, BJP MP from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency

“The students are very sad and angry. It has been more than 12 hours, till now neither any minister of Delhi government has come, nor the mayor of MCD, nor any officer. I believe that these deaths are not a disaster, this is a murder, an FIR should be registered against all these big government officials. It is not yet known whether 3 have died or more have died. Compensation of Rs 1 crore should be given to all the students who have died…The minister, Mayor should come here immediately and apologize to them. Delhi will not run like this. I will raise this issue in Parliament. I will keep all the demands of students in Parliament… The students are saying that 12 days ago they had informed the councillor that the drain system here is bad, so the councillor and all the people above him should answer.”

– AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal

“…I do not want to politicise this whole issue but at the same time we have to see that today the (Delhi) government is proving to be a complete failure. It is not able to provide water, waterlogging is happening… Who permitted to run the institute in the basement? We should pay attention to this. Kejriwal ji continuously writes letters to maintain his position, but now we should also see the condition of Delhi today…His ministers are not able to do anything today. The situation is that the minister, who should have reached the spot immediately, has not reached there… We have said earlier also that if they are not able to run the government, then an all-party meeting should be called, discussions should be held and solutions to these problems should be found. The work is not going to be done with just a few hours of sympathy. The infrastructure of Delhi looks completely destroyed today and the attention of this government should be drawn towards this. They should take moral responsibility and if you see their entire tenure, they are continuously failing…”

– Delhi Congress President Devender Yadav

“The BJP’s councillors were in power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for 15 years but did not get drains constructed. This is not the time for politics. The focus now is on saving the students.”

– AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak