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‘Will bulldozers run here too?’: Akhilesh Yadav on UPSC aspirants' deaths
Akhilesh Yadav termed the incident tragic and demanded a thorough investigation to fix accountability for the death of the students.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that in Uttar Pradesh, bulldozers were used to demolish illegal buildings and asked if the same action would be taken against the coaching centre where three UPSC aspirants died.
“In Uttar Pradesh, bulldozers are run over illegal buildings. I want to know if bulldozers will be run here too,” Yadav asked in the Lok Sabha.
He termed the incident tragic and demanded a thorough investigation to fix accountability for the death of the students.
A month before the flooding incident, a complaint had warned about the illegal use of the basement for a library and classes at Rau's IAS Study Circle.
Three UPSC aspirants including two women and one man, died after being trapped in a basement library at the coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar. The library flooded following a heavy downpour in the national capital on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took potshots at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government with Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi saying those responsible for the deaths showed no remorse for the tragedy.
The government which was responsible for regulating the coaching institutes failed in its duty and the incident is unfortunate, said Trivedi in the Rajya Sabha.
Read: UPSC aspirants' death: AAP blames BJP for poor drainage system in Delhi
“Jinki aankhon main aansu rehne chahiye unke chehre par shikan tak nahi ayi (those who should have tears in their eyes don't even have a wrinkle on their faces,” the BJP MP remarked in the upper house.
He also claimed that the incident was not sudden as several complaints and reminders had been submitted to the authorities with the most recent one being on July 26.
“This incident did not happen suddenly. Students filed complaints and sent reminders, but no one listened. One of these reminders was sent on July 26. The government did not pay attention,” he added.
He said the deaths of the UPSC aspirants were not just irresponsible but also a serious failure that endangered students' lives.
Taking a dig at the AAP, the BJP leader said, “They used to claim they were not in power in the MCD. Now they have both the state government and the civic body. They promised a new kind of politics, but it's evident how dangerous this new politics is proving to be.”
BJP Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj from the New Delhi constituency accused the AAP government of “criminal negligence” and failure to desilt drains before the monsoon season, which she said led to the flooding of the basement housing the coaching centre.
"The deaths of these three students are due to the complete neglect by the AAP government in Delhi. The criminal negligence of the AAP administration is responsible for their deaths. Despite being in power for the last 10 years, the AAP has failed to make any improvements for Delhi residents,” said Swaraj.
She said that for the past two years, the MCD is also under the AAP and it has been responsible for maintaining the drainage system. “They have neither upgraded nor desilted the drains,” she added.
The BJP MP said that residents of Old Rajinder Nagar had complained about the poor drainage system to the local MLA and corporator last week, but no action was taken by the authorities.
“I urge the Home Ministry to set up a committee to investigate the AAP government in Delhi, which is deeply involved in corruption. Why are the drains in Delhi not being cleaned?” she asked during the Zero Hour.
With agencies inputs
