Faulty design, clogged drains behind flooding

Ghaziabad: The problem of flooding of the Gaushala underpass is as old as the underpass itself. Though the problem started when the flyover was inaugurated 20 years ago, but the flooding accentuated after 2013 when the area saw a population influx.
The Ghaziabad municipal corporation (GMC), however, said that the faulty design of the underpass is behind the frequent flooding.
Municipal commissioner Mahender Singh Tawar said, “The underpass is on a low lying area and during rains, water from drains overflow on the road and accumulates in the underpass. During heavy rainfall, water in the underpass reaches up to 9 feet. The rate of water accumulating in the Gaushala underpass is far more than the water discharge rate and this leads to flooding. The water takes more than three hours to clear on its own.”
GMC councilor Rajender Tyagi said that the design of the underpass has no provision of pumps to suck out the water. “Besides, the manholes are also clogged and sometimes, waste water from Vijay Nagar trunk line also flows into the underpass.”
Tyagi added that 20 years ago when the underpass was inaugurated, drainage system of the adjoining areas such as Jassipura, Gaushala and Shivpuri was sufficient but over the years there has been an influx in the population of the area and the drainage system was never revamped apart from some short-term solutions.
In 2018, the civid body claimed that it has rectified the clogging of drains and a machine was also installed to pump out the excess water but residents said that the machine was later removed by the civic body.
TP Tyagi, a resident, said, “The underpass was constructed by the railways after several demands by residents who faced difficulty in crossing the rail line in Vijay Nagar area. However, it seems that no attention was paid to create a proper drainage system to flush out waste or rain water. And the GMC also came up with short-term measures such as widening the drains but it didn’t have much effect.”
GMC officials, however, maintained that they are planning to install pumps in the underpass.