NOIDA: “Almost twenty days have passed since the filth from the
nullahs was removed and dumped on the main road. The sewers have been left open and the Noida authority is indifferent. They will wake up only after some child falls in the manhole,” says an angry Joginder Singh, a resident of Sector 15, Noida.
The drains were cleaned in May this year, with the aim of making life easier for residents during this monsoon.
But the unclogging has ended up causing more problems. The sewage taken out from these drains lies in open. To add to the filth, the huge drains remain uncovered.
Residents are afraid to send their kids to the market for fear that they might fall in these manholes that are large enough for a small car to get stuck. Pedestrians are forced to balance on the precarious planks laid on the open sewers.
Baijnath who runs a fruit juice stall on the footpath recalls how a man fell in the drain two weeks ago when a dust storm hit Noida on June 1, “We managed to save him just in time.”
As the monsoon season approaches, residents are even more worried about water accumulating on the road. With dengue and
malaria cases already being reported, this pile of waste poses a real danger of these illnesses spreading.
“Noida authority was quick in getting the drains cleaned, but what about the heap of garbage that’s left on the street? At least when the filth was inside the drain, it wasn’t a breeding place for mosquitoes and flies,” adds Joginder Singh.
To add to the woes, the road between Sector 15 and Sector 16 is among the busiest roads in Noida, and traffic jams have become a daily occurrence.
