Satya Niketan collapse: CJP demands probe into 'PG mafia', mass safety audits

New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI): The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) on Monday demanded an independent probe into the "nexus" between private paying guest operators and politicians, a nationwide structural safety audit of student housing, and more hostels for Delhi University students following the Satya Niketan building collapse. Listing seven demands at a press conference, CJP co-convener Saurav Das sought the probe not only into the owner of the collapsed building but also into what he called the "PG mafia" operating in educational hubs. "Our first demand is that there should be an independent criminal investigation not only of the owner, but also of the nexus between the owners and the politicians sitting in the government," Das said. The CJP demanded an engineering-grade structural audit of schools, colleges and student accommodations across the country, particularly in major student clusters such as Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar. "The youth of the country are the future. It is the responsibility of all of us to rectify their concerns and provide them with a safe environment," Das said, demanding that such audits be carried out in a time-bound manner. The outfit also demanded rehabilitation of students living in unsafe accommodation, sealing of illegal constructions and penal action against owners found violating safety norms. It sought publication within 48 hours of records of 13 district committees constituted by the Delhi government after the Hauz Rani fire to identify illegal and vulnerable buildings. "We demand that within 48 hours you should publish all these records on your website," Das said. The records should include the committees' constitution, daily and weekly reports, buildings inspected, violations detected, notices issued, demolition orders passed and action taken against officials and owners, he said. The CJP also sought details of the date on which inspections were stopped or scaled down and the officer who authorised the decision. "And the most important thing: Did you inspect Satya Niketan through these committees? You answer this," he said. The outfit alleged that the 13 committees, which were constituted to identify, audit and enforce safety norms, had become defunct within three months. The records must reveal whether Satya Niketan was surveyed and, if so, what was found, or if it was not surveyed, why the major Delhi University student-PG hub was excluded, the CJP said. It demanded a publicly searchable database of student accommodations, allowing students to verify whether the establishments were sanctioned and had the required safety certifications. It sought construction of more Delhi University hostels, pointing out that existing hostel capacity is around 7,000 while the university has a student population running into lakhs. The outfit demanded Rs 1 crore compensation for the families of each person killed in the collapse and Rs 20 lakh for those critically injured. Its seventh demand was ministerial accountability, with Das specifically seeking accountability from Delhi Urban Development, Planning and Education Minister Ashish Sood. "Ashish Sood, who is the Minister of Planning and Education, should be held accountable. This is a movement of accountability. The youth of our country are dying in such conditions. This is not acceptable, and we will not tolerate it," Das said. The CJP also questioned why the work of the 13 district committees was wound down under Sood. A five-storey boys' PG near Delhi University's South Campus collapsed around 1.30 pm on Sunday while repair work was underway, killing seven. Das said the tragedy represented both a failure to prevent illegal construction and a broader failure to regulate private student accommodation. "One is the immediate failure that illegal construction took place. Safety norms were not followed and were not enforced by MCD and local agencies. And the second layer of failure is the structural failure," he said. "There is such a large student population near the DU campus. But even then, an unregulated private PG economy was going on where there was no enforcement and all the regulations were not followed," Das said. The CJP said that there was no adequate follow-up or enforcement after the Hauz Rani fire. Balakrishna Shukla, who was at the collapse site, alleged that construction continued in the basement despite an MCD notice. "There is the office of MCD at a distance of 100 metres. There is the house of the MLA at a distance of 150 metres. All of them have PGs there," Shukla said. "Five-six workers were still working in the basement," he said. CJP member Deepak Baliyan said the collapse victims had come to Delhi from poor families in pursuit of education. "What was the fault of these children coming from poor families? They had come to the city with a dream of a better future," he said. In an apparent warning of another mass protest, he said, "If the guilty are not punished, Jantar Mantar is the same, Delhi is the same, and we are the same. The fire will start again." PTI AO VN VN (This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)