Coaching centre flooding: Congress' Shashi Tharoor, Jebi Mather meet victims' families

New Delhi: Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor and Jebi Mather called on the family of Nevin Dalvin one of the students who drowned in the flooded basement at a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar.
Tharoor and Jebi Mather met the family members at RML Hospital in Delhi, where the bodies of the deceased students have been kept.
Speaking to ANI on the mishap, Tharoor urged the government to provide compensation and said, "This is shameful, there is no doubt about it. The dreams of those youth have been shattered, and the hopes of their families have been snuffed too. This is extremely saddening for the country, for its future and the future of the youth."
"What solution can you bring forth when a life is lost? Yes, compensation should be provided. What is most important is to ensure that this doesn't happen again so that nobody has to suffer through the same loss again," he added.
Congress MP Jebi Mather said that there is a gross failure on the part of the government and MCD.
"The family of the boy from Kerala is here and the postmortem is going to happen, so we wouldn't want to make this an issue at the moment but the fact remains that there is a gross failure on the part of both the government and the MCD and such instances are becoming very common because such coaching centres with no proper facilities are being done. Right now, since the family is here we don't want to make it an issue at that level because we stand with the families and those three deceased," Jebi Mather said.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore said that there should be some accountability in the matter and urged people not to indulge in petty politics.
"A few days ago, an infrastructure-related incident occurred at Delhi airport and one driver died there. Failures related to projects and infrastructure are happening one after the other in Delhi. There should be some accountability," Manickam Tagore said.
"We should not indulge in petty politics; it should be more about finding solutions to the national capital and I hope that the other members also agree with me in finding solutions for these kinds of problems in Delhi," he said.
Meanwhile, the student protests in Delhi's Karol Bagh continued on Monday morning following the deaths of students.
Speaking to ANI, Sahil, a UPSC aspirant and one of the protestors complained that no officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) visited them.
"We have been sitting here for the last two days but none of the MCD officials came to meet us. We submitted our demands to the DCP yesterday, seeking information about those who are deceased, those who are admitted to hospitals, copies of the FIR, the action that is to be taken and compensation of Rs 1 crore to the family of the deceased and Rs 50 lakhs to those injured but none of it has been addressed," Sahil said.
The students complained that biometric access was mandated to enter libraries, which were located mostly in basements.
"What happened on 27 July was that the biometric got blocked, because of which students got trapped inside when the basement was being flooded with water. This tragedy could have been averted," Manish Kumar, a student, said while speaking to ANI on Monday.
Manish further said that alternatives to biometrics need to be ensured so that another such tragedy can be averted.
The MCD sealed the basements of 13 coaching centres in Karol Bagh on Sunday for violating building by-laws amid protests by students. Mayor Shelly Oberoi has directed strict action against coaching centres operating illegally in basements.
The Delhi Police arrested seven persons in connection with the incident, including the owner and coordinator of the coaching centre. The accused have been booked for culpable homicide, among other charges.
"Five more persons, including the owners of the basement and an individual who drove a vehicle that appears to have damaged the gate of the building, were arrested. There was no permission to carry out commercial activity in the basement," DCP Central M Harshavardhan told ANI.
"We have sought information from MCD, and we will examine their role too. The investigation is going on from all angles," the DCP said.
The police also appealed to the protesting students to maintain peace and not block the main roads, and they assured strict action in the case. The police also arrested another person, the driver of a car, who allegedly damaged the gate of the coaching centre on the day of the mishap.
"Negligence has been established on the part of the arrested driver, who has been arrested by Delhi Police in the Old Rajender Nagar case. He was driving the vehicle very fast, due to which the gate of the coaching centre broke. Before he hit the building gate, a street vendor had tried to stop him," the DCP said.