The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday alleged that a private school in South Delhi’s Andrews Ganj was running classes in an illegally built basement in its premises, posing risk to children.

The AAP also alleged the municipal Corporations over not taking any action for one year after the Petition Committee of Delhi Legislative Assembly submitted the report of violation safety norms by four private schools in South Delhi.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said that during an inspection last year, it was found that 27 classrooms were operating in the basement, following which the South Delhi civic body was directed to take action but no step has been taken yet.  He said the basement was built illegally as it was not marked in the school map given to the fire department.

 Addressing the media, he said "Many private schools of Delhi are violating the safety norms and the petition committee of the Delhi Assembly received reports of such violations in four private schools of South Delhi (Indian School, APJ School, KR Mangalam School and Summer Fields School). We have submitted a report to the MCDs and asked them to take actions but nothing happened. Finally, I submitted the whole report to the Delhi Legislative Assembly yesterday on behalf of the petition committee,".

Bhardwaj further said that this school was violating the Supreme Court order and running 23 classrooms inside the basement without any ventilation and fire exits. "We have submitted the whole report to the BJP-run MCD one year ago and asked for action but they did not do anything. It's unfortunate that for the last 15 years the Fire Department has been continuously providing NOC to this school without investigation and it is written in the 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) that the school has no basement. The MCD has also given NOC only for the ground floor, first, second and third floor," he said.