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Poor civic amenities plague Gomti Nagar Ext, agencies pass the buck
Many big nullahs are either damaged or not connected with small ones, which causes water logging; service roads are broken, says president of Jan Kalyan Maha Samiti
LUCKNOW Despite carrying the tag of a posh area, Gomti Nagar Extension faces civic challenges like water logging, broken service roads, dysfunctional streetlights, and damaged nullahs that compound people’s problems, especially during monsoon, as per a ground report by team HT.
Civic agencies are passing the buck on each other as damaged sewer lines and broken roads cause water logging. Most of the area, dotted by houses, commercial buildings, and housing societies, is under the Lucknow Development Authority’s jurisdiction.
A Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) official said, “We charge only house tax from the area as we are only looking after the cleanliness of the area.”
Ramps constructed by people over nullahs are the main cause of water logging in the area. “We cannot demolish these because of interference by people when we set out for action,” he said.
The LMC official added: “Development works in Gomti Nagar Extension and Jankipuram Extension that were to be undertaken by the LDA have not been completed. We will take over these areas after the LDA does the needful.”
“The most affected areas of Gomti Nagar Extension are sectors 1, 4, 5, and 6. Over the last two years, when the LMC wanted to take over Gomti Nagar Extension and Jankipuram Extension for development of sewage network and other works, they didn’t get the required funds from the LDA,” said Uma Shankar Dubey, president of Jan Kalyan Maha Samiti.
“Many incomplete big nullahs are either damaged or are not connected with small nullahs, which causes water logging. Service roads in the entire Gomti Nagar Extension area are broken,” he added.
One of the residents claimed that the LDA officials reach any building/house only to check faults, and whenever people face an issue, the department officials don’t answer calls.
“In Sector 4, only one streetlight is functional, and the rest are not working for past five days,” lamented another resident Vikas Tiwari. But LDA executive engineer Manoj Sagar claimed that no streetlights are dysfunctional in the area.
LDA executive engineer Ajeet Kumar said, “The tender for major works has been passed recently.”
The authority had handed over the cleanliness work of the area to the LMC for ₹6 crore in 2022. “The department has only handed over the cleanliness work of Gomti Nagar Extension and Jankipuram extension to the LMC,” read an official order of the LDA.
Another LDA official said before the handover, a joint inspection was done by the department. Only streetlights and big nullah of the area are under LDA, he added.
