UPSC aspirants death news: ‘We’ll not work in…,’ Drishti IAS Vikas Divyakirti breaks silence amid students’ protest

UPSC aspirants death news: Amid the Delhi civic body's crackdown on coaching institutes following the drowning deaths of three IAS aspirants in Old Rajinder Nagar on Tuesday, Dr. Vikas Divyakirti, founder and MD of Drishti IAS, pointed out that over 1,000 coaching institutions in the capital lack a no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department.

As reported by ANI, Divyakirti explained that the fire department insists on a certificate for commercial purposes. At the same time, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) requires an educational certificate, highlighting the regulatory complexities.

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Pointing out “ambiguity and contradictions” in regulations imposed by various agencies on coaching institutes, Dr. Vikas Divyakirti noted that the issues surrounding these institutions are more complex than they seem.

In his initial response to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's action against Drishti IAS's Mukherjee Nagar center and the large crowd of students who gathered outside his home on Monday night demanding his address, Divyakirti apologized for the delay in his statement and confirmed that he is cooperating with the government.

Posting his statement in Hindi on 'X', Divyakirti wrote, “We are sorry that we delayed in presenting our side. Actually, we did not want to say anything on the basis of incomplete information. We sincerely apologise for this delay.”

In an interview with ANI, Divyakirti said, “When we ask for the certificate from the fire department, they ask us to come through the MCD or DDA. We discussed this in the meeting today. The fire department has assured us that they will make a system through which we can take the certificate directly from them. Even if we get the certificate from the fire department, it is mentioned in it that since the building is commercial, the certificate is also for commercial purposes.”

He added, “MCD says that they want an educational certificate. To the best of my knowledge, not even one educational institution has an educational building certificate. Only colleges, schools, and universities get this. This also happened because before 2020, according to the DDA, we were not in the educational category; we were in the commercial category. According to GST, coaching institutes still come in the commercial category.”

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Divyakirti further noted that even if they get permission in the future to run the institute in the basement, they will not work and will also try to ensure that not a single coaching institute should run in the basement.

Notably, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has sealed the basements of several coaching institutes in Mukherjee Nagar, Rajendra Nagar, and Preet Vihar, for allegedly conducting commercial activities in their basements.

Agreeing that coaching centres should not be run in the basement, he said, “After seeing the incident that happened in the last 3 days, I feel that this was carelessness. The thought never came to our minds, and I am saying very openly that even if we get permission in future, we will not work in the basement. I assure you of this and not a single coaching institute should run in the basement.”

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Speaking on why he hasn't shared any opinions till now, the founder of Drishti IAS said that it is his nature and he's not very expressive.

“This is my nature, I'm not very expressive. 3 children died, and it was a painful death. For the last 3 days, whenever we talk at home or I go to sleep, an image comes to mind of what those children must have gone through when the water was filled inside...All the things said by the students who are protesting right now are valid. It is good that I have met 3-4 students today. I had a meeting with the Delhi LG. Some students had also come to that meeting, and there were also owners of many institutes. There were also top officials of the Delhi government, from DDA, MCD, fire department, and Chief Secretary,” Divyakirti said.

Meanwhile, the search for “UPSC” has skyrocketed on Google in the last 4 hours:

(With inputs from ANI)