Crackdown on Patna coaching centres running illegally

Patna, Jul 29 (PTI) Alarmed over the death of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre in Delhi, the Patna district administration has decided to scrutinise all such institutes and take action against those which are running in violation of norms.

The district where the state capital is situated is considered Bihar’s ‘coaching hub’ attracting students from far off places, who aspire to clear engineering, medical and civil services exams.

“Keeping Delhi’s incident in mind, the district administration in Patna has directed officials concerned of all sub-divisions to verify documents of all coaching centres. The documents of the coaching centres that need to be verified include permission and other no-objection certificates from the authorities,” Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh told PTI on Monday.

Three civil services aspirants died in Old Rajinder Nagar area of Delhi on Saturday after water from a flooded drain gushed into the basement of a coaching centre, where a library was set up.

Singh said that officials have been asked to constitute dedicated teams in their respective areas for the purpose and take action against those institutes which are running in violation of the norms.

“The Patna district administration has taken this decision as a preventive measure to avoid any untoward incident in the coming future. Officials have been directed to complete the process within 15 days. There are around 300 coaching centres in Patna,” said the DM.

The Patna Municipal Corporation has also launched a drive to identify coaching centres in the city which are running in houses that did not fulfill building bye-laws.

“Officials have been directed to take strict action against the coaching centres as well as owners of such buildings. Initially, the drive has been stated in those areas which are congested or densely populated,” Patna Municipal Commissioner Animesh Kumar Parashar said. PTI PKD NN