New Delhi: The Union home ministry on Monday constituted a committee to inquire into the tragic death of three IAS aspirants at a coaching centre due to waterlogging in the national capital. Cracking the whip, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Monday dismissed an officer and suspended another as well as it launched an anti-encroachment and sealing drive in the Old Rajinder Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar areas.The committee formed by the home ministry will inquire into the reasons, fix responsibility and suggest remedial measures. It will comprise the additional secretary (urban development ministry), principal home secretary (Delhi government), special commissioner, Delhi police, fire advisers and a joint secretary of MHA as its convenor. It will also recommend policy changes and will submit its report in 30 days.As security was beefed up in the coaching hub amid protests by students, lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena met the protesters and assured them of action against responsible officials in 24 hours. He also announced Rs 10 lakhs in compensation for the kin of the three aspirants.The Delhi police, meanwhile, arrested five more persons, including a man who drove an SUV on the waterlogged road, allegedly damaging the gate of Rau’s IAS Study Circle.The police is also likely to question civic body officials about the desilting of drains and the clearance certificate issued by them to the coaching centre. The five accused — Tejinder Singh, Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh and Sarabjeet Singh, the four co-owners of the coaching centre, and the SUV driver, Manoj Kathuria — who were arrested on Monday, have been remanded to 14 days in judicial custody. The SUV has also been seized. The total number of arrests in the case has gone up to seven.Battling charges of negligence and not desilting storm water drains, the MCD terminated junior engineer Vinay Mittal and suspended assistant engineer Vishram Meena of the area for alleged lapses on their part. The civic body also launched an anti-encroachment drive in Old Rajinder Nagar to remove illegal structures covering storm drains in the area. A sealing drive was also launched by the civic body in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, another hub of UPSC coaching. The action is being carried out against basements of establishments operating illegally in the area. The MCD has so far sealed 19 coaching centres in the city.MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar said: “Civic body is working on three fronts, demolishing encroachments over storm-water drains, action initiated against illegal basements, which are a threat to and safety.” He added: “Three basements were sealed last evening. We have taken action against the maintenance engineers responsible for containing waterlogging.”In a related development, the body of Nevin Delvin (28) was handed over to his family after autopsy. As the families came to terms with their loss, a political blame game played out too with the AAP and the L-G trying to shift responsibility.At the spot, hundreds squatted on the road near the coaching institute, demanding justice and compensation for the families of the deceased. Raising slogans of “We want justice”, they insisted that Mr Saxena join them instead of standing behind the police barricades. The L-G assured them that strict action will be taken against guilty officials of the Delhi Fire Services, the police and the MCD.For many, the civic apathy was underscored by a civil service aspirant, Kishore Singh Kushwah, saying he had complained to the MCD about classes and libraries being operated from the basements of institutes on June 26. He said in a video that he was seeking strict action against big UPSC coaching institutes, which were allegedly putting the lives of students in danger.According to the police, the building housing the institute was constructed in 2021 and owned by four separate individuals. One of them owned the basement and was among the five people arrested.The police also wrote to the MCD seeking the de-silting status of the drains near the coaching centre and sought details of any complaint against the coaching institute to the civic agency.
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