How Delhi's coaching institutions risking students' lives

Just a year ago, a massive fire at a multi-storey building housing coaching centres in North West Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar led to distressing visuals of students jumping off windows to escape the blaze, highlighting the inadequate safety measures at such establishments.

The Delhi high court had then directed agencies to crack down on coaching centres running in violation of safety measures, but the death of three civil services aspirants after the basement of a coaching centre flooded in Central Delhi following rain has again put a question mark on the efficacy of agencies in implementing safety norms.

Coaching institutions across the national capital, some lined up in cramped lanes while others housed in lofty buildings in busy commercial areas, are risking the lives of students, with lack of fire safety measures, single entry and exit points, faulty wiring and overloaded electrical circuits among the most common problems.

On the Saturday incident, the MCD said the owner of the institute had falsely shown that the basement was being used for parking and as a store room, as per the building plan and No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the fire department.

A civic body official also said that the storm drains in the area were "covered by encroachers on street sides leading to flooding" and the rainwater entered the basement.

The Mukherjee Nagar incident in June last year in which several students were injured had occurred due to a fire in the electric metre on the third floor of the building, according to the police.

The high court had taken note of the incident after news reports showed desperate students smashing windows and rappelling down ropes and wires to escape smoke and fire.

In a status report, the Delhi Police informed the court that of the 583 coaching institutes running in the national capital, only 67 have no-objection certificates (NOC) from the Delhi Fire Services.

The Delhi government counsel said that more than 95 per cent of the coaching centres did not have a fire safety certificate from the department despite it being a statutory requirement.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS), in its status report, said it conducted a survey of 461 coaching centres and found that the requisite fire preventive and safety measures, as per the Delhi Fire Service Act and its rules, had not been adopted.

The High Court directed that coaching centres in the city not conforming to statutory requirements under the Delhi Master Plan, 2021 will have to be shut down.

"After the Mukherjee Nagar fire incident, the MCD acting upon court's order carried out an inspection of the coaching centres in the area and served notices and shut many establishments that were found violating building bye-laws," a civic body official said.

The fire department also carried out a survey in the area to check the implementation of fire safety measures at the coaching institutions and submitted its report to the court later, a senior DFS official said.

In another incident in September last year, a fire at a women paying guest (PG) facility in Mukherjee Nagar due to a short circuit in the power meter panel near the only staircase in the three-storey building left many injured.

The incident occurred barely a day after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi launched a sealing drive against coaching institutes operating without a fire NOC.

In January 2020 the roof of a coaching centre collapsed in North East Delhi's Bhajanpura locality killing five including four students and Injuring 14 people.

After the latest incident at the Old Rajinder Nagar-based Rau's IAS Study Circle, the MCD has again initiated action against those flouting norms and will set up a high-level committee to probe the incident, civic body officials said.

A team of the civic body reached the spot to seal basements of many coaching centres running illegally acting upon Mayor Shelly Oberoi's orders, a statement by the Delhi government said on Sunday.

Establishments running illegally from the basement have been identified and a drive to take action against them has started, an official said.

The Delhi Police has arrested the owner and the coordinator of the institute and have booked them for culpable homicide among other charges, officials said

Civic apathy also claimed the life of a 26-year-old UPSC aspirant recently when he was electrocuted to death in the same area just a week ago while he was trying to cross a waterlogged street and came in contact with an open wire.