After the death of three UPSC aspirants due to drowning in the basement of a coaching centre in Delhi, the  Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has started cracking down on illegal coaching centres and will set up a high-level committee to investigate the flooding of the basement which led to the death of the three students, an official said on Sunday.

The Delhi government has said that a team from the MCD reached the Old Rajinder Nagar area to seal illegally-run basements of coaching centres.

13 coaching centres sealed in Delhi

The team sealed 13 coaching centres during its action till late Sunday night. The 13 coaching centres that have been sealed are –  IAS Gurukul, Chahal Academy, Plutus Academy, Sai Trading, IAS Setu, Topper’s Academy, Dainik Samvad, Civils Daily IAS, Career Power, 99 Notes, Vidya Guru, Guidance IAS, and Easy for IAS.

“These coaching centres were found to be operating in basements in violation of rules and they were sealed on the spot and notices were pasted,” the statement said.

In a post on X, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said, “After yesterday’s tragic incident, MCD has started the process of sealing all the coaching centres in Rajinder Nagar that were violating rules in the basement! If necessary, this campaign will be run all over Delhi!”

The coaching centre, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, where the students drowned on Saturday, was sealed by the police.

Last year, the MCD conducted a survey of coaching centers following a massive fire at an institute in Mukherjee Nagar, a major coaching hub in north Delhi.

Three civil services aspirants – two women and one man – died after a basement library at Rau’s IAS Centre was flooded during heavy rain on Saturday night, reportedly causing the failure of the single biometric entry and exit point.

“A gross criminal negligence is found on part of the owner of the institute in ensuring safety measures as the library in the basement was running illegally and had only one entry and exit point that was biometric-enabled and got locked due to the flooding,” an MCD official said.

(With PTI inputs)