‘Govt. must shut down all illegal coaching centres’

All coaching centres running illegally in Delhi must be shut down, said the uncle of 28-year-old Nevin Delvin, one of the three Civil Services aspirants who drowned in the basement of a coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar on Saturday. “That’s all we want now.”

“The government’s response shouldn’t be limited to crackdowns in the aftermath of such incidents. The government must ensure that no coaching centre runs in violation of rules and puts lives of young people at risk,” said Linu Raj, who had come to Delhi to collect his nephew’s body from Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.

“We don’t want compensation. The damage is done,” Mr. Raj said. He added, “But we want steps to be taken proactively to ensure the safety of all students.”

RML Hospital handed over the bodies of the other two deceased — Tanya Soni and Shreya Yadav — on Sunday afternoon. Delvin’s body was handed to his uncle a day later.

Delvin was a PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University from Kerala’s Trivandrum. His mother is a geography professor and former head of the department at Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit at Kalady. His father is a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Delvin’s uncle said the family found out about the incident on Sunday morning. “My sister (the deceased’s mother) fell sick upon hearing about Nevin. She is still admitted to a hospital in Trivandrum.”

He described Delvin as “charming, brilliant, friendly, and bright”.

“He was a knowledgeable young boy who dreamt of being an IAS officer. He was studying at one of the country’s best universities. We sent him to Delhi to give him a chance to live a better life,” Mr. Raj said.

Talking about the incident, Mr. Raj said, “We understand it was a natural disaster. But how can students be kept in such spaces? How many lives are still at risk?”