Delhi drowning: Govt, Oppn spar in RS; Dhankar calls coaching centres gas chambers
Three civil service aspirants drowned at the basement of a building which served as a library of a coaching centre in the Old Rajendra Nagar area of Delhi after heavy rain on July 27
The Rajya Sabha on Monday cancelled part of its regular business to take up a short-duration discussion on the death of three students due to flooding at a coaching centre in the national capital, which, chairman Jagdeep Dhankar said, was a matter of serious concern.
During the roughly two-and-a-half-hour discussion, members of the ruling alliance and the Opposition sparred over who bore responsibility for the tragic incident and issues related to civic infrastructure as well as burgeoning coaching institutes in the country.
Dhankar announced the House will take up the discussion under rule 176 and the member raising the discussion will not have a right of reply. Dhankhar urged members to give constructive suggestions on the issue, saying coaching centres had become “silos which are no less than a gas chamber”.
“Every day, one sees huge advertisements of coaching centres in newspapers. Where is the money coming from? It’s coming from students,” the chairman said.
In his intervention, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said both states and the Centre had jurisdiction over education, which falls in the concurrent list of the Constitution. “There has been negligence. The loss is irreparable. I offer my condolences. But someone has to take the responsibility so that this is not repeated,” the minister said.
Three civil service aspirants – two women and a man in their twenties -- drowned at the basement of a building which served as a library of a coaching centre in the Old Rajendra Nagar area of Delhi after heavy rain on July 27.
According to Pradhan, the Centre had regularly sent out advisories to states on coaching institutes and regulations that they need to follow. “We constantly monitor coaching institutes. Advisories to states were sent in 2017, 2019, 2020 and on January 16 this year.”
Advisories included guidelines for the registration of such institutes, minimum standard requirements, safeguards, monitoring procedures and penalties, Pradhan said. Advisories need to be followed, whichever the government, Pradhan said, adding: “If they were followed this wouldn’t have happened.”
The minister also said his government was open to discussing all issues in the House, including National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET), which many opposition members demanded.
“If members criticise some suggestions and advice given by the Prime Minister on exams, I don’t have anything to say,” Pradhan said, responding to Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien, who said only those who knew the subject should give advice on education, referring to “Exam Warriors” by PM Narendra Modi.
Opening the discussion, BJP member Sudhangshu Trivedi said the entire issue should be looked at as a “matter of criminal negligence”. “The Delhi government has not set up any inquiry committee and the ruling party has not expressed any remorse or compassion after the incident”.
The lawmaker said the Delhi government’s ministers had a habit of talking more, only on political issues instead of working on water, cleaning of sewers and drains, amid vehement protests by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member Sanjay Singh.
TMC’s O’Brien said the House had rightly shown urgency and alacrity in holding a discussion on the students’ death which is “very tragic”. “My question is did we show the same speed, concern and alacrity to discuss deaths in railway accidents, the fate of 24 lakh NEET students, 60,000 lives affected in the Manipur violence, 100 deaths in Assam floods and 30 suicides by farmers a day?”
O’Brien asked if the government would address the “commodification of education” and if there were provisions in the National Education Policy to tackle it. DMK’s Triruchi Siva defended the AAP government in Delhi, saying only in Delhi, a chief secretary can overlook a minister’s order. “Only the LG (Lieutenant Governor) is responsible for this tragedy”.
AAP lawmaker Sanjay Singh took on the ruling party members, saying the Centre had consistently sought to cripple the Delhi government and leave it with no powers.
“You ask what have we done so far? We have laid 4,000 km of new sewer lines and 3,500 km of water pipelines and 3,100 sewerages. Officials only listen to the LG and this should be probed,” Singh said.
The AAP member also said he not only prayed for the soul of the students who died in Delhi incident, but also those killed in Manipur, those who committed suicides in Kota, a coaching hub, and suicides by NEET aspirants.
Coaching institutes may have a role in education but there should be a law to regulate their fee structure and conditions on how they operate. He pointed out that the name of an Ahmedabad coaching firm, Edutest Solutions Pvt Limited, had regularly appeared in paper-leak reports. “The owner, Suresh Chand Arya, can also be seen in photographs with the prime minister,” he said, triggering protests from the treasury benches. “Coaching centres have become nerve-centres of paper leaks.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Kumar Jha said tuition centres had become very powerful entities that can “rig any system in the country”. “This is a wake-up call. When the GNCTD Bill was being passed, I had warned against creating power without accountability.”
Union minister of housing and urban affairs, Manohar Lal Khattar, attacked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, alleging negligence.
“Delhi has become hell-like and delivering civil amenities, which is the responsibility of the government, is not being attended to.” The minister also mentioned that this incident was avoidable had there been an investigation on whether the no-objection certificate (NOC) issued by Delhi Fire Service was being abided by the owners of the institute.
He claimed that a similar incident took place in Mukherjee Nagar last year and when the issue was taken to court, the court recommended the MCD to conduct a survey and pinpoint fragile spots. “Close to 1,100 institutions were issued notices, but there was no follow up. Had the MCD and Delhi government followed up to these notices, such an incident could have been avoided,” added Khattar.
He also recommended that MCD must follow up their building plans with time-to-time investigations into whether the plans are being followed. He also suggested better disaster management and more mock drills to deal with such situations.
Rajya Sabha member from AAP, Swati Maliwal, blamed the state government for corruption and for turning a blind eye to the poor drainage system in the capital. “I visited the area yesterday and found such illegal institutes in each house. This is a case of corruption in the state,” said Maliwal.
She demanded regulatory policies and schemes designed to benefit aspirants and promote their welfare. Maliwal also demanded that the FIR lodged against the owners of the institute, also be extended to those in the government and the administration who are responsible for this unfortunate incident.
Minister of state for social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale also demanded a permission mechanism for these institutes. “There should be a mechanism that provides permissions to open such institutions. Not everyone and not everywhere should institutions come up,” added Athawale.
Mentioning the death of 22-yr-old Ravi Moun, who died while fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war, Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi attacked the Union government for unemployment and limited opportunities for youth in the country. “Our government has signed a treaty with the Israel government where those individuals who are jobless in the country would go and sacrifice their lives in a foreign war,” said Chaturvedi.
She also attacked the government on the Agniveer scheme. “In the name of jobs in the army, the youth is given the Agniveer scheme. While dealing with this matter, we must also focus on doing away with the ecosystem that is limiting the youth of the country and shattering their dreams,” added Chaturvedi.