Murder: BJP attacks Delhi govt over coaching centre flooding incident

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday hit out at the AAP-led Delhi government over the coaching centre flooding incident that claimed the lives of three civil services aspirants, calling it a "murder" and demanded the resignation of Water Minister Atishi.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva also demanded Rs 3 crore compensation for the families of the three students who died in the incident which took place in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday.

"This is a murder, not any accident," said Sachdeva.

"This happened due to record breaking corruption of AAP that is ruling both the Delhi government and the MCD. If there is any shame left, both minister Atishi and AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak, who is in-charge of MCD, should resign," he said at a press conference.

Sachdeva also alleged "criminal negligence" by agencies including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), and demanded registration of cases against the officers concerned.

No politician who is responsible for this heart rending-incident should be spared, he said.

BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said that since July 22, locals were complaining about waterlogging due to the choked drain in the area but AAP MLA Pathak did nothing for cleaning it.

She said that the death of young students was a clear case of "criminal negligence" for which the officers concerned should be booked.

Pathak, in a statement, said that Delhi's drainage system is in a shambles. The reason for this is that the BJP was in power in MCD for 15 years, he charged "The BJP did not do any work on drainage. We have been in power in MCD for the last one year and we are working on drainage. I do not want to get into any blame game. I want that there should be an impartial investigation and strict action should be taken against those responsible," he said.

Pathak further said that until strict action is taken against commercial activities going on in basements across the city, such incidents will keep happening, he said.

The three students died after the basement of the Rau's IAS Study Circle building in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area was flooded following a heavy rain on Saturday evening.

The bodies of two female students and a male student were retrieved from the site during the rescue operation.

Shreya Yadav of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni from Telangana and Navin Dalwin from Ernakulam in Kerala were identified to have died in the incident, police said.