A political blame game has started between the Aam Aadmi Party-led government and Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena over the death of three students due to flooding in their coaching institute’s basement following heavy rains in the national capital.
Amid a growing uproar over the death of three UPSC aspirants, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj has alleged a "big conspiracy hatched" against the people of the national capital, claiming that despite giving evidence and complaining of corruption in de-silting, no action was taken against officers involved by lieutenant governor VK Saxena.
On Sunday, Bharadwaj shared videos of a meeting held on June 28 regarding desilting in the city on his X account. In the video, Delhi's Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, PWD Pr Secretary and CEO DJB Anbarasu, MCD Commissioner Ashwani Kumar and ACS IFC Naveen Chaudhary, Additional Chief Secretary Manish Gupta, along with AAP ministers Atishi and Gopal Rai can be seen present in the meeting.
Bharadwaj, who was also present in the meeting, can be seen sharing photos and videos of drains from different parts of Delhi where desilting was not done.
He said that the work of removing silt from drains and sewers in Delhi was not done properly due to the negligence of officers belonging to different departments including PWD, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department. The Minister stressed that the AAP government neither has the power to transfer these officers nor take any action against them and that this can only be done by the lieutenant governor.
On the other hand, slamming the Delhi government over the deaths of three UPSC aspirants in the basement of Rau's IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar due to rain-induced flooding, LG Saxena said the incident is “indicative of the larger malaise of misgovernance that Delhi has been subjected to during the last decade or so”.
In a series of posts on X on Sunday, the Lieutenant Governor also directed the divisional commissioner to submit a report on the three deaths. He said the incident points to criminal neglect and lack of basic maintenance by concerned agencies and said the guilty will be brought to book.
"I am deeply anguished by the death of three civil services aspirants due to waterlogging in the basement of a coaching centre and that of another student due to water logging-related electrocution. That this should happen in the Capital of India is most unfortunate and unacceptable," he wrote.
Saxena said he has been keeping a close watch over the situation and has monitored the rescue operations by Delhi Police and the fire department personally.
"Drainage in the city and related infrastructure, as also required efforts and endeavours to address these have apparently collapsed. It is indicative of the larger malaise of misgovernance that Delhi has been subjected to during the last decade or so," he added.
UP's Shreya Yadav, Telangana's Tanya Soni and Navin Dalwin from Kerala died after the basement of the building housing the coaching centre -- Rau's IAS Study Circle -- got flooded after heavy rain in the central Delhi area on Saturday evening.