The video shows the floodgates being lowered due to the strength of the water current.
New Delhi:
Three IAS aspirants were killed when water flooded the basement of a prestigious college in Delhi last night. The students were in the basement, which was being used as a library in violation of rules, when water entered with great force.
As police investigate how such a large amount of water ended up in the basement of the Rouse IAS Study Circle in Rajendra Nagar, west Delhi, a video has been released that shows an SUV driving through standing water outside the institute, splashing on its gate. Subsequent footage shows the gate collapsing due to the strong current of water flowing into the institute.
The video also revealed the dire conditions at a popular UPSC coaching centre in the national capital, with people seen wading through knee-deep water and a motorbike half-submerged in the muddy water.
The basement is eight feet below ground level and several students were there on Saturday evening when it flooded. All except Tania Soni, Shreya Yadav, both 25, and Navin Delvin, 28, managed to get out in time.
The three bodies were recovered just after midnight after a seven-hour rescue operation.
Delhi Fire Chief Atul Garg said there was no option to drain the water from the basement.
The three-storey coaching centre got its building plans approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2021, falsely stating that it was being used as a warehouse, as per the building plans and a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department.
“The building has fire safety norms but the norms listed the basement as a storeroom. The institute management was using the same rooms as classrooms and a library, which is in violation of the norms,” Garg said.
Locals said there are several other coaching institutes in the area that operate underground.
Delhi Mayor Sherry Oberoi has taken strict action against guiding authorities flouting building bylaws and directed MCD officials to ascertain whether they were responsible for the incident.
The coaching centre’s owner Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh were arrested today amid local protests over the incident.
