Ghaziabad civic body okays ₹40 crore for upgrading drainage infra

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation on Monday decided to spend about ₹40 crore on upgrading the drainage infrastructure in the city

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation on Monday decided to spend about ₹40 crore on upgrading the drainage infrastructure in the city. The move comes after major city roads witnessed heavy traffic jams due to waterlogging following heavy rains in the last two days.

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“As we faced waterlogging issues over the weekend, we have decided to improve the drainage system at five key points, including at Nandgram and Brij Vihar, among other areas. For this, we have approved a fund of about ₹40 crore, and it will be spent after the final approval from the state government,” said MS Tanwar, municipal commissioner.

Even the light rainfall on Monday resulted in traffic jams on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway stretch at Lal Kuan, which is witnessing the construction of a 16-lane rail over bridge (ROB) near ABES College.

The corporation on Saturday deployed 39 officers at 13 worst-affected areas for round the clock monitoring and resolving the waterlogging issues.

“Our teams have worked round the clock and sorted out the waterlogging issues that occurred due to heavy downpour. The drainage system fell short to drain out the high water volume. The teams are still deployed and there have been no major complaints now,” said Tanwar.

The 13 worst-affected areas include New Bus Adda to Patel Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Ramte Ram Road, old bus stand, Navyug Market, Lohiya Nagar, Seemant Vihar (Kaushambi), Brij Vihar, Mohan Nagar, Apsara Border, Rajendra Nagar, Pandav Nagar, Karpuripuram and Govindpuram, among others.

Meanwhile, councillors said that the drainage system needs to be revamped.

“Most of the areas in the city witnessed heavy waterlogging after the rains in the past three days. This raises questions about the effectiveness of cleaning of drains before the monsoon. It shows that the city is not prepared for heavy monsoon rains. People got stuck up for hours in traffic jams due to waterlogging on roads,” said Rajendra Tyagi, councillor from Raj Nagar.

“Further, in many residential areas, residents have covered drains. It has reduced the handling capacity of drains,” he added.

Environmentalists said that massive concretisation has led to the situation. “There has been heavy reliance on putting up tiles on roadsides which doesn’t allow rainwater to seep into ground. Further, the rainwater harvesting units are merely operational on paper. This is the time when officials need serious thinking about these issues, as the city is ill-prepared to tackle heavy monsoon rains,” said Akash Vashishtha, a city-based environmentalist.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that the ROB at the Delhi-Meerut Expressway will have six new lanes added by August 30. “The load testing has been completed and signages are being put up. Opening of new lanes will ease out traffic pressure,” said Mudit Garg, project director of NHAI.