Ghaziabad: Day after man drowns in rainwater, civic body plans corrective measures
A day after a 19-year-old man died after drowning in the flooded Gaushala underpass following heavy rain, Ghaziabad’s municipal corporation has decided to form 10 teams to be deployed in five zones across the municipal area to check for water logging and take corrective measures.
On Friday, the victim, Arjun alias Haddi, who goes by a single name, had drowned in the waterlogged underpass. The body could be taken out after a team of local divers was roped in. Following the incident, district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey had directed an inquiry into the incident and also asked corporation officials to take corrective measures.
“We have decided to form 10 teams; two will be deployed in each of the five zones across the city. The teams will be from different departments such as water works, civil and health and all teams will work in coordination; in case there is waterlogging in any area, the teams will immediately deploy pumps to flush out water,” said Pramod Kumar, additional municipal commissioner.
According to officials, the city at present has about 32 different areas marked as waterlogging-prone areas.
“We already have pumps installed in these areas to flush out water. But the rain in the past couple of days has been heavy and water drainage took more time. The 10 teams will further check for waterlogging in other areas too and have been tasked to take immediate corrective measures,” Kumar added.
“As regards the underpass incident, we have plans to widen the present drainage system, which could not timely flush out the water after the heavy rain. So the other option is to increase the drainage capacity so that water flushes out quickly. We will put up a proposal before senior officials,” he added.
The district magistrate, meanwhile, said that the inquiry is one in the case of the 19-year-old’s death.
“I have already asked the corporation officials to conduct videography of all waterlogging-prone areas and also to ascertain the quantity of rain in the city. This will help reduce the issue of water logging after taking corrective measures. The cleaning of drains is to be checked regularly so that water flushes out in time and is not obstructed by garbage etc,” he added.
