Coaching takes precedence over caution at city centres

Clutching their books and carrying heavy bags on their shoulders, hundreds of students in coaching centre uniforms navigate the lanes of Kalu Sarai, a 14th-century village near the Indian Institute of Technology in south Delhi — India’s premier engineering institute where they aspire to be enrolled.

 

Kalu Sarai is just one of the many areas in Delhi dominated by coaching centres, and characterised by narrow bylanes which deter the entry of emergency vehicles, low-hanging electric cables, congested buildings, and exposed meter boxes inside these buildings.

The lack of safety at coaching centres was brought under the spotlight after a fire broke out at a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar on June 15, resulting in injuries to 61 students. After directions from the Delhi high court, the Delhi Police surveyed 53 coaching centres in Mukherjee Nagar and found that none of them had a “no objection certificate” from the fire department.

Following the survey, the Delhi high court directed MCD to shut down all coaching centres and other commercial activities allowed under mixed land use in Delhi, if they do not have fire clearance certificates and do not comply with norms laid down under the Delhi Master Plan 2021, on Tuesday.

Like in Kalu Sarai, many buildings that house coaching centres flout safety norms in North Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, and East Delhi Laxmi Nagar. While Kalu Sarai is known for its engineering coaching centres, Mukherjee Nagar is known for coaching for exams under the Union Public Service Commission, Laxmi Nagar for chartered accountancy classes.

AK Jain, former commissioner (planning), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), who also worked on the Delhi Master Plan 2021, said that the mushrooming of such units operating in the city was spurred by high-profit margins and lack of any enforcement.