In Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar's strong reaction to UPSC IAS centre tragedy: ‘Coaching has become...’

 Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha both discussed the deaths of civil services aspirants at Rau's IAS basement library.Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar raised concern over the commercialisation of coaching centres as he allowed short duration discussion on Delhi's Rau's IAS entre flooding incident which claimed three UPSC civil services aspirants lives.

Coaching has become virtually commerce. Every time we read a newspaper, the front one or two pages are of their advertisements,” Jagdedep Dhankar said in his remarks in the Upper House of Parliament on UPSC aspirants deaths due to drowning in a coaching centre in Delhi.

The Vice-President further said that he "deems it appropriate to have a short duration discussion or a calling attention" in the Rajya Sabha, and will hold a meeting with the leaders of all parties in his chamber on this issue.

In the Lok Sabha, the issue was raised during Zero Hour. BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj attacked the AAP government, blaming its “criminal negligence” for the deaths. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who visited RML Hospital where the injured from the incident are being treated, called for monetary compensation. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress MP from Bihar's Purnia, Pappu Yadav, also demanded an inquiry into the matter.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner Ashwani Kumar said that a junior engineer has been terminated and an assistant engineer suspended due to lapses related to the incident. On Monday morning, bulldozers were seen clearing encroachments on the streets of Karol Bagh, where the incident occurred at Rau's IAS Study Circle.

Rajya Sabha has taken up a short short-duration discussion on the recent tragic incident of the death of students in a coaching institute in Delhi due to alleged negligence of authorities. Initiating the discussion, Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP termed the incident as criminal negligence demanding a detailed investigation into this matter and fixing the responsibilities. He alleged that despite raising concerns about the building bylaws, no step was taken to clean the drainage system. Questioning the Delhi government, he said, the Delhi Jal Board’s deficit has reached to 74 thousand crore rupees and several allegations of corruption have been levelled against the Board.

 

He also questioned how much money was spent on the cleaning of drainage systems by the city government agencies. He said, no comment came from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on this tragic incident. Mr Trivedi asked the Delhi government to make a list of Coaching Centers that follow the norms.

Derek O’Brien of TMC also expressed concern over the incident. He however questioned why the house was not allowed to discuss the issues related to the Railway accident, Manipur violence, NEET examination, floods in Assam as well as unemployment and farmer’s issues. He also raised the issue of suicide of students across the country. He said that the commodification of Education was not properly addressed in the National Education Policy. Tiruchi Siva of DMK also spoke on the issue. The discussion is underway.

Delhi BJP workers staged a protest near the AAP office, attacking the AAP government over the recent incident in Old Rajinder Nagar.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Delhi High Court, demanding a high-level investigation into the incident where three people died. The petition also called for an investigation into MCD officials who allegedly ignored a complaint from June 26, and for the formation of district-level committees to tackle illegal commercial constructions.