3 UPSC Aspirants Killed In Library Running Illegally From Coaching’s Basement; People Falling In Potholes; Citizens Dying Under Illegal Hoardings/Buildings: How The ‘Babus’ Of The Nation Failed To Fulfil Their Duties, Costing The Lives Of The Common Man?

How did the failure of administration of the present murder the administrators of the future?

“My child is preparing for UPSC/ I am preparing for UPSC”: Dare to say these statements in your friends and family circle and see the anticipated pride that comes with these coveted examinations! IAS/IPS, or broadly UPSC, is one of those examinations in India that every candidate once dreamed of and a myriad of students every year come to Delhi to enrol in the coaching centres that ‘claim to provide excellence to these candidates and make them ready to pass these toughest examinations of the nation’.

Not only in Delhi and not only in UPSC but all over the nation, probably in every urban region, you have seen gigantic hoardings of coaching centres that aim to give excellent education and guidance services to your wards to crack the UPSC, NEET, JEE examinations that will pave their way to an astounding future. 

But what happened in the last few months unfolded that how these coaching centres are merely doing business in the name of education, and they are least bothered by what happens with your kids in these institutions. From running misleading advertisements without thinking about how they will affect the aspirants, to allegedly putting out the answer key just 30 minutes after the exam in the NEET exam (scam), in exchange for money to running classes in basements ignoring safety, these institutions have crossed every limit to earn profit on the cost of safety and security of the future of the nation.

July 2024- The Delhi case of UPSC aspirants.

The recent accident of 3 aspirants, identified as Shriya, Naveen, and Tania, killed in the Old Rajinder Nagar coaching centre is not a new phenomenon that happened suddenly. Just a week ago, a similar aspirant, where 26-year-old Neelesh Rai, returning to his room through a waterlogged street, died from electrocution. Even after witnessing such a situation that could pose a threat to the safety of the students, the national capital authorities seem to be less bothered to examine the situation, which could have prevented the recent deaths of these 3 aspirants.

Moreover, this coaching centre under scanner had a library in the basement, which, as per Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi, is illegal as it has been acknowledged that commercial activity in basements is illegal. Rent on the upper floors is costlier; hence, libraries were positioned in the basements. Furthermore, isn’t that ironic that this coaching centre, which was teaching the UPSC aspirants to become coveted bureaucrats of the nation who will ensure the law and order of society, is themselves involved in illegal activities like the basement library? Seems like ‘Teach what you preach’ is just a phrase meant to be broken by the teachers themselves!

• When talking to an IAS aspirant, he asserted that the libraries in these coaching centres lack proper 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 for running away in case of an emergency. These all point towards the building’s infrastructure, including the absence of fire exits, poor ventilation, and a single spiral staircase, jeopardising the safety and security of those aspirants who have spent lakhs of rupees in getting enrolled in these coaching centres and dreamt of having studies and getting a better future from there. 

History of negligences in the domain of education (and others), who are the primary saviour of the future of the nation!

April 2024- Kota Coaching Centre fire accident.

In April of this year, a major fire broke out from an electric transformer inside a five-story boys’ hostel building in Landmark City in Kota, resulting in burn injuries to at least six coaching students. Two students suffered leg injuries after jumping from the first floor in an attempt to escape the flames. Rakesh Vyas, fire officer of Kota Municipal Corporation, stated that the hostel building was not fitted with fire safety measures and lacked a fire NOC. Additionally, the transformer in the hostel was situated on the ground level near the stairs.

According to Kota chief fire officer Gautam Lal, a fire safety audit of 605 high-rise structures undertaken in March 2019 revealed that around 90% of buildings, institutes, and hostels lacked fire safety equipment or had defective fire safety systems. Imagine the fate of the safety of your kids in such hazardous situations! Even Naveen Mittal, the then President of the Kota Hostel Association, stated that in older structures, hostel proprietors are not even aware of fire precautions.

June 2023- Mukherjee Nagar Fire Incident.

A fire broke out three months ago in one of Old Rajinder Nagar’s hostel buildings. Prior to this occurrence, another fire broke out in one of the libraries, although nobody was hurt. In another attempt from last year, students were seen from jumping from the building to escape a fire in Mukherjee Nagar.

Even In May of this year, the Delhi High Court asked the MCD and DDA to immediately shut coaching institutions that violate fire safety regulations. A court led by Justice Yashwant Varma, who had previously ordered an investigation of coaching centres in Mukherjee Nagar, also directed the authorities to relocate any potentially harmful electrical equipment put outside the premises. Amicus curiae Gautam Narayan informed the court that, despite the MCD’s claims that several coaching facilities had been closed, they had been proven to be running under new management or names. These facilities were discovered to be non-compliant with fire safety regulations, with one even having an electrical board obstructing the door.

This terrible occurrence is not a unique one from Delhi. Similar incidents of neglect by coaching institutes and hostel administrators have endangered students’ lives several times in the past. Their living circumstances are currently in the limelight, but years of complaints have gone unanswered by the mafia-like nexus of coaching institutions, brokers, and landlords. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HAVE REPEATEDLY IGNORED SERIOUS WARNINGS.

May 2019- The case of the Surat Fire.

A major fire damaged the Takshashila complex in Surat, killing 22 students. The fire began on the first floor after a spark in an air conditioner’s exterior unit and spread quickly owing to highly combustible components and the wooden staircase. The majority of students died from suffocation or by jumping off the building. These buildings didn’t even have a Fire NOC. Following the tragedy, police arrested 14 people, including Surat Fire and Emergency Services personnel and the building’s developers. However, they are out on bail. 

Of course, as seen from the famous case of the Pune Porshe accident, where the murderer of two was granted bail on the condition of writing an essay, no doubt, bail is the reward that the Indian judiciary gives to anyone who is accused of taking the lives of people. This is the supreme justice of the biggest democracy in the world.

Moreover, the judge asserted the question, ‘What will people on the streets do? People visiting pubs are not going to go home walking. Something needs to change in this situation! Seems like there is no concept of accountability and punishment in our nation, so similar heinous incidents should not be repeated in future! This reminds me of a joke by comedian Abhishek Upmanyi saying ‘तुम लोग अपनी body लेके बहार घूमोगे तो criminal तो काट ही देगा न ’!

Also, justice delayed is justice denied– Five years on, the parents of the deceased are still fighting for justice. Jayshukh Gajera, father of a deceased student in 2019, said on May 24, 2024, to a news outlet, “What is the point of justice if it is served after 15 or 20 years of the incident? This incident was one of the biggest tragedies of the country, but it is not being run in fast track court despite our demands,”. Imagine sending your child to a coaching centre for a better future and then waiting helplessly to get justice for those departed souls. 

Also, this is not only the case in Gujarat, where the building lacks the proper safety for any potential fire hazard. Recall the accident from May, where a gaming zone fire from Gujarat’s Rajkot killed 27 persons. As known from the sources, the gaming zone did not apply for a fire safety certificate till this year, the Gujarat High Court was told. Following this incident, even the Gujarat High Court bashed the state government that they could not be trusted anymore because of these hazardous fire lapses. Now, think about whether you have ever applauded Gujarat’s model of development.

June 2014- Jaipur coaching centre fire accident.

These incidents are not the scenes from just a handful of years. Even a decade ago as well, similar incidents of fire broke out in the coaching institute of Jaipur in 2014. In that case also, the fire broke out in basement, where classes were being taken to put the foundation of the future of the nation! The then-Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) sealed the coaching facility building because it was functioning illegally. 

In 2018, Jaipur Chief Fire Officer Jagdish Phulwaria stated that the Jaipur Municipal Corporation conducted a safety assessment of such coaching schools in 2018, with 100 receiving notices for violating fire safety standards. The fire department issued No Objection Certificates to 10 of the approximately 50 institutes judged to be lawful. This same person, in August 2022, was nabbed for taking bribes for issuing a fire No Objection Certificate (NOC) to a firm that has installed some fire equipment at a few places. According to investigations, Phulwariya reportedly asked applicants seeking NOC to purchase fire equipment from a company run by his son.

According to the ACB director general BL Soni, a complainant approached the headquarters and said that the chief fire officer demanded a payment of Rs 1 lakh to issue a fire NOC. It was anticipated that at least 5000 buildings were under Phulwaria, for which he was issuing fresh NOCs or conducting renewal of expiring NOCs. It sounds like corruption is deeply rooted in the blood and minds of Indians. 

Now again, in 2024, the Jaipur police have ordered a thorough inspection of safety measures in all coaching institutes across the city and have established helpline numbers for students and parents to report issues in response to the recent waterlogging incident in a Delhi coaching centre’s basement. The Jaipur police have set up several reporting channels to make this easier. God only knows how the authorities, if ever, could find routes to tackle these corrupt practices.

Other components of society where similar accidents can be seen.

The problem is not only with the coaching centre. At every other junction of society, one could see how the lack of adequate administration by the government authorities has costed the lives of common man. 

The incident of the illegal hoarding collapse tragedy that killed 17 persons in the Ghatkopar area of Mumbai is a recent example of such negligence. Later, media houses reported that the owner of the billboard agency was arrested, but the question lies in how the municipal authority or the collector or commissioner of the city could not take action against such a hoarding that was standing illegally for such a long time. Why such a situation of bureaucratic lapse?

Take another example of the collapse of illegal buildings in various states, be it the recent incident of the illegal building collapsing in Navi Mumbai a couple of days back, the illegal building collapse in Kolkata in March 2024, or the dilapidated three-story building collapse in Gujarat in July 2024.

The question arises:

What are the people in charge, and what are the municipal authorities doing? Why has the collector/commissioner/authority in charge not taken cognisance of illegal constructions in this city?

Or why the mayor of the concerned city, who is called the city’s first citizen, has not taken immediate action to demolish these illegal constructions?

Ironically, ‘bulldozer justice in India’ is only triggered by communal clashes or towards specific communal sections of society!

In each case, one can see that there is a major sort of bureaucratic lapse at every stage where authorities were seen not taking appropriate actions even after hazards were observed and were neglected, which eventually led to the loss of the common man. Not even only the coaching institutes, but at every point, we could see how these officers who are actually given duty and paid great bucks to run the city are ignoring their responsibilities. 

Moreover, as per a recent update, a man has been arrested in this case of Delhi’s coaching centre killing three lives, mentioning that video footage shows the man driving the vehicle very fast, due to which the gate of the coaching centre broke, and water gushed into the basement area! The charges on which he was arrested is BNS Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

Going by that theory, the biometric system company, which installed a biometric system at the coaching centre that failed at the moment of accident should also be charged! How ironically, the authorities shifted the blame to any random person, ignoring that it was they, ‘the authorities’ whose negligence cost the lives of those 3 aspirants! The arrested person questioned about ‘how he will know that there were students in the basements’? adding that just to display ‘Something’s is done’, a common man has been arrested but not the officials of the Jal Board!

Anu Lall, an educator, podcast host, and coach, how beautifully explained that whosoever the government is, be it AAP, BJP or Congress, in the end, the ‘babus’ of the city should be held accountable for anything and everything that goes wrong in the city. Of course, what would a common man can expect from Indian bureaucracy if they have officers like Puja Khedkar, who are just there to rust the ‘Steel Frame of India’!

Moreover, only politics is being done at every level just to shift the blame game, and in the end, the lives of the common man, who is paying huge taxes, are neglected like anything. 

To sum up.

Despite these frequent events, governments and administrations have turned a blind eye to the problem and have enabled these coaching institutes to thrive. People frequently forget and go on, so lost lives are only numbers. There has never been any responsibility for government officials, municipal corporation employees, or fire department personnel, while only those who operate or own the structure face the ire of the law.

The governments must address the issue and undertake rigorous inspections of the residential/commercial premises in which such institutions operate. Until then, we will continue to see tragedies similar to those in Surat or Delhi coaching centres, and young kids will be viewed as numbers rather than India’s future. This shows how the blind eye by the ‘babus’ of today, aka the lack of administration of the present authorities, is murdering the administrators of tomorrow!