The UPSC aspirants, including two women and one man, died after being trapped in a basement library at Rau's IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar. The library of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar area flooded following a heavy downpour in the national capital on Saturday.
While the Delhi unit of the BJP called these deaths “murder” and sought the AAP government’s resignation, many questions have risen. The primary ones being- Why was the coaching centre running a library in the basement to begin with? Why wasn’t the library also located on the ground or upper floors?
According to a report by News18, the reason is money. The report stated that tuition classes bring in more money than the libraries. Also, the rent for the upper floors is costlier than the basement. Hence, the classrooms are on the upper floors while the libraries are in the basements. Civil service aspirants told News18 that the libraries are used by students from lower income families for studying. If these libraries were located on the upper floors, the fees or subscriptions would go up too to make up for the higher rent.
Many civil services aspirants from humble backgrounds do not join coaching centres because of the high fees, However, they still have a quiet place to study and hence subscribe to the libraries. Pankaj Ojha, an IAS aspirant, told News18 that the rent for the first floor in such buildings in Rajendra Nagar can range from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000. However, according to him, but the basement floors is around Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000.
“Most of the students living here are from middle class or lower income families and even a difference of Rs 1,000 per month matters to us,” Ojha told News18.
Ravikant Durg, an IAS aspirant hailing from Maharashtra, said if students opt for libraries on the first or the second floor, the subscription cost is around Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a month.
“But we can get these underground libraries for just Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 a month. As students, we have a limited budget,” Durg said. His family earns a living by farming.
According to News18, Durg pays Rs 1,700 for an underground library, operated by a trust and has all the required permission.
“I went to see several libraries. They don’t have ventilation. Staircases are such that only one student can use them at a time and there is no drainage system. At any given time, there are about 60-100 students in these libraries. How much time will it take to bring out 100 students one at a time if anything happens? They will die. The only plus point is that they have an AC room so you don’t really need ventilation but there is no scope of running away in case of an emergency,” he said.
Other incidents
A week ago, an aspirant who was about appear for the main UPSC exam died from electrocution. Neelesh Rai (26) was returning to his room through a waterlogged street when the incident occurred. Three months ago, a fire engulfed one of the hostel buildings in Old Rajinder Nagar. Prior to this incident, a fire broke out in one of the libraries, but no one was injured. Last year, during a fire incident in Mukherjee Nagar, students were seen jumping from the building to escape.
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