Ghaziabad civic body identifies 14 waterlogging hot spots across city

Residents said that many areas across the city have a persistent issue of waterlogging after a spell of rain. They said that the authorities are yet to conduct repair work or take corrective actions

Waterlogging after rain is posing issues for commuters in Ghaziabad even as there was some relief on Monday from the incessant rain that lashed the city for more than 48 hours. Officials of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation said that they conducted inspections and identified 14 spots which require immediate intervention.

Ghaziabad, India - October 10, 2022: Vehicles wade through a waterlogged stretch on Delhi Meerut Road in Ghaziabad, India, on Monday, October 10, 2022. (Photo by Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times)

Residents said that many areas across the city have a persistent issue of waterlogging after a spell of rain. They said that the authorities are yet to conduct repair work or take corrective actions.

“Areas such as Govindpuram, roundabout on the Delhi-Meerut Road leading to Raj Nagar Extension and the service lane near the ALT flyover are some of the spots which remain waterlogged even after the rain stops. The situation is the same for the past many years now. These areas are risky for commuters,” said Ruchin Mehra, a resident of Raj Nagar Extension.

Others said that areas such as Brij Vihar and Sahibabad Site IV industrial area also suffer from waterlogging.

“During the annual drain cleaning exercise, areas below the culverts are not cleared and they lead to blockage. Whenever there is rain, water overflows from the Brij Vihar drain due to blockage. In other areas, bad roads have also led to waterlogging. It seems that officials have turned a blind eye to the suffering of residents,” said SK Maheshwari, Surya Nagar councillor.

Municipal corporation officials said that they conducted an inspection and identified 14 low-lying areas prone to waterlogging.

“During the past many years, there were more than 100 such low-lying areas and these have now been reduced to only 14. We have directed teams to deploy pumps and draw out stagnant water,” said Nitin Gaur, Ghaziabad municipal commissioner.

Gaur said that the 14 low-lying areas are located in Nandgram, Govindpuram, Vijay Nagar, Brij Vihar and the New Bus Adda Metro station, among others.

The incessant rain also posed risk to the lives of people who reside in houses or buildings which have been marked as dilapidated by civic body officials.

“We have 123 such houses which have been declared as unsafe due to their dilapidated condition. The occupants have been asked to vacate the premises and shift elsewhere,” Gaur added.

In one such instance, a notice was served to a house owner in Ambedkar Colony in Vijay Nagar on September 25. The family, a week later, said that house owner Lokesh Kumar Singh, a fruit vendor, suffered a heart attack and died as he was upset over the development and had no means to shift elsewhere.