For better sanitation, Greater Noida city divided into five zones

The authority said the step has been taken to resolve issues related to sanitation and sewer departments that are facing flak from residents for doing a shoddy job in residential, industrial and other areas, including open public areas, roads and footpaths

The Greater Noida authority has decided to divide the city into five zones and introduce a new integrated tendering process for better management and streamlining of sanitation services in the city, officials in the know of the matter said on Thursday.

Each zone will be handled by an additional chief executive officer or an official in the rank of officer on special duty, unlike the old plan in which a project engineer was in charge of a circle. (HT Archive)

The authority said the step has been taken to resolve issues related to sanitation and sewer departments that are facing flak from residents for doing a shoddy job in residential, industrial and other areas, including open public areas, roads and footpaths.

Each zone will be handled by an additional chief executive officer or an official in the rank of officer on special duty, unlike the old plan in which a project engineer was in charge of a circle.

Currently, the city is divided into 8 zones to manage the sewer related issues that include treatment of sewer and addressing issues of choked sewer lines. To manage sanitation issues, the city is divided into five zones, with each zone managed by a project engineer.

But as per the new plan, the city has been divided into five zones for both sanitation management and sewer related issues. The zones for water department and power department will be changed in the future once the ongoing tenders in these departments are completed.

“We have streamlined the sectors in each zone in the sewer and sanitation department, and also introduced an integrated tendering system with an aim to remove multiplicity of contractors. In the old system, multiple contractors work in the sanitation and sewer department, thereby creating confusions over jurisdiction. Taking advantage of the confusion, officials pass the buck when it comes to shoddy management, thereby affecting the quality of services. But if there is only one contractor for one zone, then there will be no confusion and the quality of work will be better,” said Ravikumar NG, chief executive officer, Greater Noida authority.

The authority officials said the city has been divided into five zones in a new sequence as per the geography. Zone One will be Greater Noida West area with sectors 1, 2, 3, 4, Gaur City, Bisrakh and Saini among other areas.

Zone Two will be sectors Ecotech 1, 2, 3, 4 Habibpur and Surajpur till Dadri-Surajpur-Chhalera road.

Zone Three will cover areas between DSC Road and Knowledge Park 4, including the Greater Noida authority office.

Zone Four will be comprise Pari Chowk, JP Greens, Mitra Encrave, sector Omega I and Omega 2, among others, and Zone Five will include newly developed industrial areas such as Ecotech Extension, Ecotech Extension 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and Tech Zone-2, along the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.

Currently, each zone is headed by a project engineer rank official, who reports to a deputy general manager, who reports to general manager and she to the additional CEO and the CEO being the most senior in hierarchy. The project engineer is responsible for all issues and she depends on multiple contractors, who often make excuses with regard to the area’s division for the poor job done.

“But in new system, we will fix responsibility and have an additional CEO or OSD [officer on special duty] rank officials heading each zone, who will use the entire team to get the work done from one contractor. In that way, the contractor cannot resort to the excuse of jurisdiction,” said Ravikumar NG.

The authority is likely to issue tenders under the new integrated system to hire one contractor per zone.

“We hope that the new zoning system yield results and address the issues related to sanitation and sewer management. Currently, garbage is being dumped everywhere. Chokes sewers are a regular occurrence in our sector. We hope that the new system will effectively address our civic issues,” said Om Raizada, poet and activist, who lives in Greater Noida’s Sector P3.