Noida: Arun Vihar residents write to environment ministry over open drain

NOIDA: Fed up with the untended problem of an open storm water drain that runs across the three sectors of Arun Vihar - 28, 29 and 37, the RWA body on Friday convened a committee of volunteers from the sector who will coordinate with various administrative agencies to achieve a solution to the problem.
The open drain, claim residents, affects their health as it is full of sewage, chemical waste, and poisonous gases.
The three sectors have a population of 30,000 including seven schools, two hospitals and many religious institutes. With no redress from Noida authority on the matter, the residents’ body has now written to the ministry of environment and climate change seeking a redress.
“We have written to the ministry of environment and climate change, government of India apprising them of the open storm water drain in our sector which is full of sewage water, chemical wastes and toxic gases. These poisonous gases are adversely affecting the health of our senior citizens and school going children. These gases also damage surrounding electrical infrastructures due to the constant presence of caustic air thereby posing electrical hazards that led to electrical fire on several occasions,” said Colonel (retd) IP Singh chairman Arun Vihar Residents Welfare Association (AVRWA).
According to Kavita Jamil vice chairperson AVRWA and director of ward 16, sector 37 while Arun Vihar comprise of mostly serving/retired defence personnel and their families across sectors 28, 29 and 37 with the average age group of above 70 years, the issue of the dirty drain has been raised on several occasion with Noida authority with no redress so far. “We have demanded time and again from Noida Authority to either cover the dirty drain or install STPs to clean it. However, there is no redress to the matter leading to increased suffering of our residents for over three decades now. We have therefore formed a committee of members who will coordinate with various administrative agencies to achieve a solution to the problem including the ministry of environment,” said Jamil.
While authority officials maintain that the drain cannot be covered as per NGT guidelines, they add that regular cleaning of the drain is carried out especially, ahead of the monsoon.