Delhi coaching centre fire: Safety not even a thought where dreams are sold

NEW DELHI: Beneath the billboards that promise a bright future for ambitious youth lie a physical trap of entangled electricity wires, iffy power meter boxes and constricted stairs that open out to narrow bylanes. And yet, spurred by dreams of cracking the various examinations that could one day make them a lawyer, engineer, chartered accountant or an Indian Administrative Service officer, thousands throng these buildings where coaching institutes are located.
On Friday, a day after a fire at a coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar in northwest Delhi, the other institutes in the area downed shutters for three days till Monday. There being no official order for their shutdown, it seemed the owners of the institutes had taken the step themselves. Critics said this was done because of fear of action by authorities, while others surmised the coaching centres were reviewing their fire-safety arrangements.
Mukherjee Nagar is not the only risk-prone hub of coaching in the city. Others like Nehru Vihar in northwest Delhi, Laxmi Nagar and Shakarpur in east Delhi and Kalu Sarai in south Delhi, among others, too are disasters waiting to happen with classes running from basements of dilapidated buildings equipped only with fire extinguishers well past their expiry dates.
Mukherjee Nagar: Swank offices, seedy classrooms
The shutters were down and big locks hung on the gates of most coaching centres in Mukherjee Nagar on Friday, leaving the usually congested locality abnormally empty. They are expected to reopen on Monday.
Sachin Gujjar, an employee of a coaching centre, said, "Fearing inspection of the premises, most managers and owners went away. The institutes remain closed for a few days before it's back to business. There are big coaching centres present in this locality and they make a lot of money. The authorities are in collusion with them and will not act against the owners."
Pointing to the open electric meters and the dark, narrow staircases at the institutes, Gujjar also showed how the fire safety equipment in many buildings, taken on rent or on lease, was just for show. The 400-acre coaching hub looked sinister with tilting power poles with what looked like an unknottable confusion of electricity wires.
The centres preparing students for the civil services exam charge them Rs1 lakh to 2 lakh for the course and crowd up to 600 of them into a single classroom. In the smaller centres, those teaching English speaking and law courses, for example, around 60 students study in a batch.
Student Vikas said, "The coaching centre provides no facilities commensurate with the amount they charge from us. Only the offices look nice, but the classes are held in shabby rooms."
Nehru Vihar: No checks
Just a kilometre from Mukherjee Nagar, the former refugee habitation is an emerging coaching hub. Coaching centres thrive in the dysfunctional Vardhman Mall, though it is in tatters with eroded plastering and rods poking out at some spots. From the 24x7 library to shops and classrooms, each floor of the building is packed and corridors are wide enough just for two people side by side.
There are coaching centres running even in the basement, which has around five classrooms, each crammed with 500-600 students. Durgesh, a UPSC aspirant, said, "My basement centre has a fire extinguisher, but how will it help if our exit is barred by an incident on the ground floor? The lanes too are so small that I doubt fire engines can come in case of blazes."
For 18 months of classes, students pay around Rs 2.4 lakh, fooding and lodging costs extra. Keshavan Nandan, an area resident, said, "Almost 3,000 students come and go every day. The government must do something about this place. No one checks whether the institutes meet the safety norms."
Laxmi Nagar: Restricted escape routes
Whether it is a library in a basement where around 50 students staring intently at their computers or a classroom with 300 students, their weak point is the same: a single entry-exit point. Even in lift-equipped Ameena Building, while the entrance is broad the higher one goes up, the passageways become constricted. A quick evacuation in case of an emergency would be fraught with risks.
The bylanes too are small and tight. Shilpi Gupta, a company secretary aspirant from Bihar, has been studying here for nine months. "There are 120-150 students per batch in my institute on the fourth floor. While the classrooms are spacious enough to accommodate the students, the approach to the buildings worry us. However, that's just how it is in the entire area. We have no options," she said.
While most managers and institute owners claimed they had installed all fire safety gear, TOI visited found them entirely missing or placed only on some floors. When asked about areas with missing fire equipment, which ironically seemed the only points for evacuation, the managers asserted these floors weren't under their jurisdiction.
Some managers said the fire service inspected their premises on Friday and found nothing amiss. However, TOI saw workers carrying fire extinguishers up to the floors where the chartered accountancy classes were going on.
Kaushal Kumar, owner of Crown PMT Academy, which runs in a basement, claimed to have discontinued classes on the first floor because the stairway was at an unsafe distance from the classrooms. "There are no regular inspections, but we are fully prepared because safety of students is our first concern," he asserted.
Kalu Sarai: Onus on building owners?
Located close to Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, this 14th century village is where school students congregate for coaching. Almost all buildings are three- to four-storey tall and have different coaching centres on each floor. Even the To Let signs in the area state: "Only for educational institutes".
On some lanes, the buildings are built so close to each other that it seems even sunrays will not be able to pass through. And most of the buildings, barring the bigger ones, have a single entry-exit point.
An employee of a CBSE Patrachar coaching centre said, "We operate from the ground floor and we don't have air conditioning. We take these buildings on rent so it is for the building owners to acquire fire-safety certification." TOI saw 10-12 students studying in a tiny room. The institute charges Rs 25,000-Rs 27,000 per month for courses.
Dhruv Negi, a Class XI student, has enrolled in a six-hour programme in what is called a dummy school. He seemed happy with the facilities. "We are generally 35 students in a batch. Our floor has several classrooms and there are fire extinguishers around," he said.