New Delhi | A few students were detained after they staged a protest in Old Rajinder Nagar here on Sunday, demanding action against those responsible for the deaths of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre in the area, and compensation for their families.
Raising slogans "we want justice", the protestors blocked the road next to the Karol Bagh Metro Station, causing huge traffic snarls in the area and prompting police intervention.
A scuffle erupted between the students and police, after which a few protestors were detained and taken away in a bus. Following this, many demonstrators dispersed from the area and police resumed the traffic movement there.
The police also used body camera and drones to monitor protestors' activities during the demonstration.
Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana, and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala died after the basement of the building housing the coaching centre Rau's IAS Study Circle was flooded following heavy rain in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area on Saturday evening, officials said.
At the protest site, Aman Saxena, a civil services aspirant and a coaching student, said, "If the authorities will not accept our demands, we will go to the Jantar Mantar to further protest and press our demands."
"We just want justice for the three students who lost their lives in this incident. Police personnel and paramilitary forces have been deployed here in huge numbers. We are not terrorists, we are the future of the nation and demanding what is right," Saxena said.
Another student claimed that there was a biometric entry into the basement where the incident occurred the students got stuck in the basement due to its failure.
Another protestor said the matter on poor condition of coaching institutes should be addressed in Parliament.
Amit Kumar, another student protestor, urged that the incident should not be politicised.
"We are demanding that following accountability, action should be taken against the guilty, and justice and compensation for the families of deceased. This matter should not be turned into a political issue," Kumar said.
The protestors also accused the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the incident. They raised slogans against the civic body and demanded its commissioner met them.
Mohak Gupta, another coaching student, said, "We have come here to study and students want a safe environment for exam preparation. The condition is same at every coaching institute. When mock tests are being held, thousands of students sit in the basement areas to appear in those tests."
"We had hoped of a change in the condition of coaching centres after the fire incident at the coaching institute in Mukherjee Nagar, but nothing happened," Gupta said.
Gunaseelan, a resident of Tamil Nadu who is also a student of a coaching institute in the area, said students are spending lakhs of rupees but not getting proper facilities.
"I have come here from Tamil Nadu for UPSC coaching. We are spending lakhs of rupees and not getting proper facilities. My family heard about the incident and they called me. I assured them that I am fine," he said.
The deaths of the three civil services aspirants have sparked outrage among students and demand for accountability from the Delhi government.
Students of Rau's IAS Study Circle and other institutes have expressed voiced their anger over the incident, highlighted safety violations at coaching centres across the city, and raised questions over the "negligence" of the Delhi government.
A student, who did not wish to be named, said Delhi authorities showed "negligence" when there were similar incidents in Mukherjee Nagar and did not take any strict action even then.
He also highlighted last week's incident in Patel Nagar, where a civil services aspirant got electrocuted in a waterlogged street following heavy rain in the national capital.
Another student said, "There is a systemic problem in these coaching centres with a lack of interest in safety measures."
"There are no fire exits or emergency exits. Those with a bright future are at risk. We want to serve the nation by joining the bureaucracy, and if the system doesn't work for us, we will lose faith in it," the civil services aspirant said, as she urged locals and fellow students to join the cause.
Authorities confirmed that a call about waterlogging was received from the Rau's IAS Study Centre around 7 pm.
An officer of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said, "We received a call at 7 pm regarding a basement of a coaching institute being flooded. The caller told us there is a possibility that some people were trapped."
Preliminary investigations revealed that the basement housed a library where several students were present when water suddenly started flooding the area.
Meanwhile, police said the owner and the coordinator of the coaching centre where the deaths occurred were arrested on Sunday.
New Delhi | Of the three civil service aspirants who drowned in the flooded basement of a coaching centre, one each was a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University.
Three students died after the basement of the Rau's IAS Study Circle building in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area was flooded following a heavy rain on Saturday evening.
Tanya Soni, 21, who had come from Telangana, was a native of Bihar's Aurangabad and a student of Delhi University, a friend, who did not wish to be named, said.
She had been staying at a women's hostel of DU's Maharaja Agrasen College and had had taken admission in the coaching institute one and a half months ago, her friend said.
According to the friend, Tanya's her father works in a mining company in Telangana. She had two younger siblings, a brother and a sister.
On Sunday, her parents took her body to Aurangabad for the last rites after a post mortem at RML hospital, he said.
Navin Dalwin, 29, from Ernakulam in Kerala, was pursuing PhD in Arts and Aesthetics from JNU.
He had joined the coaching institute eight months ago but had been staying in a rented accommodation near the university in Vasant Kunj area.
According to police, his parents in Kerala have been informed about the tragedy and they are expected to come to Delhi by evening.
His body will be handed over to them after the post mortem on Monday, a police officer said.
The third student, Shreya Yadav, was a native of Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar.
She earlier used to stay at a PG Hostel in west Delhi's Shadipur area and had taken admission to the coaching institute two months ago.
Shreya had done her BSc in agriculture from a college in UP.
Dharmender Yadav, an uncle of hers, said Shreya had moved to Delhi in April and joined the coaching institute in May.
Her father runs a dairy shop in UP and her two younger brothers are in school, Yadav, who lives in Ghaziabad, said.
Yadav was the one who came to the RML Hospital and took her body back home after autopsy.