A man sent a legal notice to Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad municipal commissioner after his luxury Mercedes car was damaged due to heavily waterlogged roads last week.
Amit Kishore, a resident of Vasundhara, claimed that this Mercedes broke down in Sahibabad on July 23 after getting stalled on a waterlogged road, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.
Kishore said that he was on his way to Lajpat Nagar when his car stalled at Shyam Park Extension. He added, "There was heavy waterlogging on the road and the drains were all choked."
He reportedly had to call a tow truck to send his car for repair work in Noida, the cost of which is estimated to be in lakhs.
What did the legal notice say?
Kishore's notice seeks the cost of the luxury car's repair along with an additional ₹5 lakh for the mental stress he endured at the time of the incident.
In his legal notice, Kishore has contended that several illegal encroachments have taken over public spaces and drains. Because of this, he said, there is no space for overflowing water to run off, adding that these encroachers are allegedly being shielded.
Ghaziabad Municipal Commissioner Vikramaditya Malik responded to the legal notice and said that it was an "attempt to tarnish the agency's image for personal gain".
{{/usCountry}}Ghaziabad Municipal Commissioner Vikramaditya Malik responded to the legal notice and said that it was an "attempt to tarnish the agency's image for personal gain".
{{/usCountry}}"It has not been certified by an expert that the vehicle has broken down due to rain waterlogging. No other such case has been reported in the city," Malik added.
Meanwhile, the corporation officials asserted that they have installed pump sets to drain water at hotspots, adding that excess water has been drained in a timely manner across the city.
Heavy rainfall has been lashing parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), including Ghaziabad, Noida, and Gurugram, for several days recently. Many of these areas have reported heavy waterlogging problems and traffic jams.