Pi 3 parks not watered, trees not pruned, GNIDA says work is on

GREATER NOIDA: From parks that are vying for attention to overgrown trees, residents of the densely populated Pi 3 have alleged poor upkeep of infrastructure in their sector, located just 4km from the office of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA).
They have a multitude of complaints – no upkeep of parks, increase in numbers of stray cattle and dogs as well as construction and demolition waste lying around in the area.
“We have about 8 to 10 parks across blocks in the sector. In most of these, the grass has either dried up or is drying with no one to water it. There are no seasonal plants and not even swings for children,” Aditya Bhati, RWA president of Pi 3, said on Sunday.
The sector has over 2,000 residents living across 1,500 plots.
Om Raizada, another resident, said: “Most of the parks and green belts are not maintained as the pruning of trees has not been done for nearly a decade. Apart from that, C&D waste is not picked up on a regular basis while the drainage system is choked. If there are rains, then waterlogging is a sure shot result.
“The population of stray dogs is also increasing every year.”
When asked about the accusations, GNIDA’s senior manager of urban services Kapil Singh told TOI that the issue of overgrown trees has to be taken up with the district forest department.
“For the upkeep of parks, tenders have been issued and work is expected to start within this month even as work on central verges has begun. For the lack of work in the parks till now, the earlier contractor has been fined,” he said.
Singh said GNIDA’s horticulture department had stopped payments to two firms and partial payments to three others for negligence in the maintenance of parks and green belts in residential sectors across the city.
Warning notices too have been issued to 6 firms. “They have been given a week's chance after which strict action will be taken against them,” he said.
The sector’s RWA also alleged on Sunday that residents were facing water issues ranging from a shortage in supply to low pressure in the past few days.
“There is an acute water supply shortage in the sector for the last many days. The pressure of the water supply is so low that it is unable to reach the first to second third floors of the houses. People have been finding it very difficult to go to work as their tanks remain empty most days. Sometimes there’s a fault in the supply line while other times power cuts result in no supply,” said Bhati.
“The water shortage is not for those who have boring pumps installed on their premises. It's for those who rely on authority supply,” he added.
GNIDA officials disagreed.
Singh said there was no water shortage in the sector.
“Daily, my team checks for water supply issues and seeks residents' feedback. A new tube well has also been installed in the sector to address the supply issue after which the problem has been resolved. Those complaining about water supply must be individual cases and could be related to their internal pipeline. This can be addressed by informing the authority," he said.
Authority officials also said on Sunday that work for cleaning drains began on Saturday. “The areas left in the sector will be cleaned in the next 10 days,” said AK Saxena, GNIDA official in charge of drains.