New Delhi: In its probe report on the death of three students at Rau’s IAS circle coaching centre in Rajendra Nagar, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) appeared to deflect all blame away from itself and held liable a wide combination of factors including the “disruption of drainage system through extension and ramps”, the “saucer-shaped” topography of the area that funnelled water towards the coaching centre, and a “completely exposed” parking that caused the inundation of the basement.
The report, which stayed silent on how those violations were allowed to happen in the first place, added that Rau’s institute was issued a show cause notice last year on August 4 in the wake of a fire accident in a Mukherjee Nagar coaching institute.
It also highlighted that the basement where the students were trapped and drowned was originally meant to be used only for parking or storage.
HT has seen a copy of the report dated July 29 submitted by the superintendent engineer Karol Bagh zone. The report was submitted to Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar and marked to the revenue minister as well as Lieutenant Governor’s (LG) secretary.
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On July 27, after a localised heavy shower, the road outside Rau’s IAS Circle centre in Rajendra Nagar was filled with water several feet deep. As the drainage system completely failed to do its task at the time, the water ended up breaking the gate of the institute, which sent thousands of litres of water flooding into the basement trapping students, three of whom died.
The six reasons
The report attributes six reasons for the lives lost on July 27.
The first, it said was that most properties on the street have been converted into commercial establishments and for the sake of convenience, the property owners have constructed ramps that block “the entry of storm water during rains into drainage system”, according to MCD superintendant engineer Nagpal. “The property owners have covered the existing built-up section of drainage system by putting granite, marble, Kota stones… leaving no scope for cleaning of the drains,” the report adds. In wake of the incident, MCD has started bulldozing encroachments on drains from Monday while stating that similar problems are prevalent across the city.
But the report did not say why this was allowed by civic authorities to happen in the first place.
Secondly, it blamed the region’s topography. The profile of road from Shankar Road to Pusa Road is in “saucer-shape” with the lowest point in front of Rau’s (IAS) Coaching Institute, the report said. “During peak rains, water accumulates in this 200ft stretch and whenever vehicles pass there is huge splash of water which aggravates the situation,” it said.
Number three and four, it blamed the institute for blocking drains and keeping its basement adjacent to what it described as an “exposed parking”. “This coaching institute has completely blocked the drainage system and also has not taken additional safeguard to meet such type of eventualities and the parking access to the institute is directly exposed to the road and in case of heavy rain, water, instead going into the stormwater drain enters directly to this parking area,” the report added, while stating that similarly placed properties have constructed a barrier wall which ensures that in case of heavy waterlogging, water does not enter the parking area.
Again, the report was silent why this was allowed to happen.
Number five, it blamed the staff at the coaching centre for not being alert. Nagpal adds that there was no vigil on “part of security staff as a result water uninterruptedly crosses the parking area and entered into the basement, ultimately taking the precious life of three bright children.”
The sixth reason, it said, were the violations in building rules. The report states that the basement was being used for other than storage as numerous work stations and cubicles were seen in the basement which is violation of basement usage norms under Master Plan of Delhi and Building Byelaws. “This violation led to causing loss of lives,” it adds.
To be sure, it adds that the building was sanctioned for commercial use. A show cause notice under section 347 of DMC act was issued to the Rao IAS on August 4, 2023 by deputy commissioner of Karol Bagh zone in wake of the Mukherjee Nagar fire in coaching centre on 15, June 2023. Delhi HC had asked agencies to survey educational institutes and coaching centres for fire safety norms.
The reply of the show cause notice on August 8 by Abhishek Gupta (the CEO-owner of the centre, who’s since been arrested) said that the building was being used as a coaching institute and desired to forward his case to the Delhi Fire Service for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC). The application was forwarded to Delhi Fire Service and the NOC was issued this year on July 9, 2024.
‘No fault’ in drain upkeep
The MCD report stated that a barrel drain called “daryayi nallah” carries the storm water run-off from the area and almost 50% of the entire discharge of the Karol Bagh region. This 40-year-old drain is around 20ft deep and 6km long, and starts from Shankar Road roundabout and passes through Pusa Road, Gurunanak Market, Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, New Rohtak Road (Sarai Rohilla) and then from Shastri Nagar where it finally discharges water into the Najafgarh drain. MCD says that it has very limited openings for desilting and discharge is taken care through the “self-cleansing” velocity of water.
“The flow in the barrel was checked at roundabout of Bada Bazar Market at Pusa Road and across Pusa Road… the flow was found satisfactory without any obstructions on account of silt deposition. The position of sewer maintained by DJB in the backlane was reassessed and it was observed there is no overflowing on account of surcharge sewer.”
But then the report concludes that the exact cause of excess water cannot be ascertained as several factors may have led to it.
“However, assistant engineer responsible for maintenance of drains system of area has been suspended and services of junior engineer has been terminated forthwith. Executive engineer has been show caused for seeking explanation,” it adds.
A K Jain, former commissioner (planning) with Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and worked on the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 said that MPD 2021 had permitted coaching centres but with certain terms and conditions regarding fire safety, width of the road, periodic checking. “MPD 2021 tried to regulate this activity. Coaching centres were not allowed even on mixed land use streets till 2006. The first time such units were permitted was in February 2007 but with specific conditions… Mixed land use was permitted with condition that the use will be periodically checked. MCD has failed in enforcement of regulations. It should have never permitted the encroachments and violations in first place.”
