The oracle has finally spoken, only after his premises were sealed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
On Tuesday, Drishti IAS — one of the market leaders in civil services coaching — issued a press release about the drowning of three students in a rainwater-triggered flashflood at an unauthorised basement library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Central Delhi.
The statement by Drishti IAS owner Vikas Divyakirti, a former bureaucrat and popular Youtuber, came after a part of his own premises was sealed by civic officials jolted out of their slumber on building violations and drainage after the tragedy.
He said: “We regret that we are late in presenting our view. We did not want to say anything based on incomplete information…. The anger seen among the students regarding this accident is completely justified. It would be appropriate if this anger gets correctly channelised and the government issues certain guidelines for coaching institutes.”
Divyakirti added: “There is inconsistency in the rules of DDA, MCD and the Delhi Fire Department. Similarly, there is a lot of contradiction in the provisions of the ‘Master Plan of Delhi 2021’, ‘National Building Code’, ‘Delhi Fire Service Rules’ and ‘Unified Building Bye Laws’. Except the ‘Master Plan of Delhi 2021’, no document has clear provisions for coaching institutes. We are hopeful that when the committee appointed by the Union Home Ministry submits its report in a month, most of the above-mentioned points will be resolved.”
He suggested: “A permanent solution to this problem is that the government should select three-four areas in Delhi and designate them for coaching institutes. If the government itself sets up the classrooms, libraries, hostels, then there will be no problem of high rent or of safety provisions.”
The basement of Drishti IAS’s centre in North Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar was sealed on Monday night. There have been several demands from Divyakirti's followers on social media that he and other stakeholders of the coaching world speak up about the tragedy. Several students raised slogans of “We want Justice!” when the sealing took place.
So far 19 institutes, including Rau’s and Drishti, have been sealed since Sunday. A small group of students began a “hunger strike” near Rau’s on Tuesday demanding that all top officials responsible for civic works come and speak to them.
Civil services aspirant Kishor Singh Kushwah had complained to the Delhi government a month ago about Rau’s and filed two reminders as well. He has lived in the area for almost three years now and is currently preparing for the civil services examination on his own. He complained against Rau’s when his trousers tore in knee-deep water after a short spell of rain in June and he realised that “any more rain would go into their basement (library)”.
Kushwah told The Telegraph from his hometown Gwalior: “Students are still protesting as we want safety in future which can only happen if the government issues specific guidelines on coaching centres. How do we believe that everything will be alright if it is still the same Municipal Corporation of Delhi and other bodies with no changes in the rules under which they function? The current rules have loopholes”
He added: “Last week, I also complained about the buildings where I live — in Shadipur. Buildings with approval for three storeys have built up to eight storeys. The state of these buildings is such that in heavy rain, one fears as to how long they would stand.”
Several protestors held a vigil with torches of their mobile phones outside Rau’s IAS Study Circle on Tuesday evening.
Several job aspirants stay in or near the coaching class hubs in areas like Shadipur — the underbelly of most metros where structural safety is often traded for relatively lower rents.
In court, the prosecution opposed the bail of the least likely culprit—a driver of an SUV that caused a wave of accumulated rainwater to topple over Rau’s gate and flood the basement. Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar reserved the order on the bail plea of Manuj Kathuria.
