The Centre has formed a committee to investigate the deaths of three students who died in the flooded basement of a popular civil services coaching centre in the city.
The committee, constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, will submit its report in 30 days.
It will inquire into the reasons, fix responsibility, suggest measures and recommend policy changes, a home ministry spokesperson said.
Apart from the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the committee will have Principal Secretary (Home) of Delhi government, Special CP of Delhi Police and Fire Advisor as members and a Joint Secretary in the home ministry as the Convener.
Shreya Yadav (25) of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni (25) from Telangana and Nevin Delvin (24) from Ernakulam in Kerala died in the flooded basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday night.
The Delhi Police has arrested the owner and the coordinator of the coaching institute and charged them for culpable homicide.
The Rajinder Nagar coaching centre’s library, it has emerged, was functioning in violation of the rules as the civic body had allowed its use only for parking and storage.
Officials have said an absence of a drainage system and safety measures and the use of the basement for commercial activities in violation of norms led to the death of three civil services aspirants at the coaching centre.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the deaths were a result of “negligence”. Mr Pradhan did not, however, identify the individual(s), or government body, whose negligence caused the student deaths.
“There was negligence. Only when accountability is fixed… will there be a solution. It is our responsibility to ensure that such an incident is not repeated,” Mr Pradhan said.
