New Delhi: One Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) engineer has been sacked and another suspended after three UPSC aspirants died Saturday evening trapped in a flooded basement of a coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar.
The civic body Monday also demanded an explanation from the Karol Bagh executive engineer on why the basement was being run as a coaching centre library despite permission only being granted for the space to be used for parking and storage.
Deputy Commissioner of MCD’s Karol Bagh Zone Abhishek Kumar Mishra terminated with immediate effect the contract of Junior Engineer Vinay Mittal and placed Assistant Engineer Vishram Meena under suspension. They are also “contemplating” disciplinary action against Meena for the horrific tragedy at the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle, which claimed the lives of two women and a man.
On Sunday, the civic body sealed basement facilities of as many as 13 coaching institutes which prepare aspirants for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination. All of these were found to have flouted rules.
An emergency meeting between Mayor Shelly Oberoi, MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar, and the CEO of Delhi Jal Board and Principal Secretary to the Delhi’s Public Works Department (PWD) is scheduled for today.
Meanwhile, the MCD has also initiated a departmental investigation to look into the cause of flooding, a report of which would be tabled before the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi, V.K. Saxena.
“Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is thoroughly investigating the matter to determine the cause of flooding in the basement. The property has all necessary documents. However, the property owner is found to be in violation of building bylaws as much as the use of the basement is concerned. The basement was allowed for parking and storage. Thus, using the basement as library and reading hall was not allowed though stacking/stocking of books could be done. Moreover, the use of the property as per building bye laws and Fire NOC is the responsibility of property owners,” the MCD said in a statement.
The municipality has however denied that a burst drainage pipe was the reason behind water gushing into the basement, but said an inquiry was on.
Pinning the disaster on the coaching institute, MCD said Rau’s disregarded all laid conditions for fire clearance and that the tragedy could have been avoided if they had complied with norms.
“This coaching centre and other buildings along the road have unfortunately encroached and covered the storm drains by extending their buildings in the form of platforms and ramps, thereby making draining of water difficult and cleaning of drains impossible. MCD will remove illegal encroachments on the storm water drain in question and other drains to address drainage,” the municipality said.
Reports said that around 20 students were in the library Saturday evening when heavy rain sent water gushing in. There was only one entry and exit route. Seventeen could be rescued on time, but three drowned. They have been identified as Tanya Soni, Shreya Yadav and Navin Dalwin.
Seven people have been arrested so far in the case, including the owner of the building.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)