Three Lives Lost Within Minutes, Library Was Flooded Last Monsoon Too: Delhi Coaching Centre Students

The closing time of the library in the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle, where three students drowned, was around 7 pm on Saturdays and by 6.50 pm, the space used to be vacant. While the flooding should not have happened, if only the incident, which happened between 6.30 pm and 6.45 pm, were delayed by a few minutes, the three of them would have been saved, said their classmates from the Delhi coaching centre. Last monsoon, too, the library had flooded, they said.

Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala died after flooding due to heavy rain in the basement of the academy in central Delhi’s Old Rajinder Nagar area on Saturday.

Speaking to News18, a few students, aged around 25, said the door got jammed against the heavy flow of water. Students’ names have been changed on their request.

“The closing time of the library is 7 pm and around 6.45 pm, students get a closing warning. That is a sign that we have to wind up. They (library in-charge) start switching off fans and lights and those who are regular, start finishing whatever they are doing. By 6.50 pm, the room is mostly vacant,” said Ramesh, a student of Rau’s.

Ramesh also explained that the doors were supposed to open against the flow of water. “The flow of the water was so strong that students could not open it. The same was the case with the emergency exit,” he added.

Calling themselves lucky, some students said they did not go to the library-cum-study room as it was raining heavily since afternoon. “We are regular at the library, as we all are students of IAS mains. We were supposed to be there last evening, but we were just lucky,” said Sukesh, another student. He added that his family in Haryana panicked after they got the news.

A third from the group, Santosh, said that the boy who died in the incident was his friend. “Navin (Dalwin) was from Kerala and was pursuing a PhD from JNU. He was a little older than us and a regular at the library. We are finding it difficult to come to terms with the loss,” Santosh added.

He said as students, they all share a strong bond and anything happening to anyone can shake every student. Most of these students were enrolled at the coaching centre for two years.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

The situation last year wasn’t this bad, they said. “The outside road floods regularly and it has stopped bothering the locals too. Last year too, the library got flooded, but the water was just ankle-deep. As a precaution, the library was closed for three days,” said another student, Manoj.

He also added that few days ago, the main door of the building was repaired to prevent the entry of water.