My Neighbourhood matters – The irrigation drain at Sector 11 is a bane for 10,000 residents

NOIDA: Sector 11 is one of the older sectors of Noida comprising nearly 10,000 residents. The sector is the first entry point of the near 20 km run of the Kondli irrigation drain that originates from Kondli village in Delhi and enters Noida (via Ghaziabad) near the Hari Darshan police post in Sector 11.
A major residential hub, the residents of the sector have braved the foul smell of the drain for years which eventually passes through Sectors 12, 22, 34, 50, and 92 and empties into the Yamuna near Chak Mangrola in Sector 168 with the total area of it in Noida comprising about 17 km. Apart from the bad stench, residents complain that almost daily stray cattle, animals or humans fall into the drain in the absence of a cover or a high wall barricading it even as during the rainy season, incidents of snakes, rats have been reported flowing in it.
Residents demand a slab cover on the drain with the planting of neem trees on both sides for adequate oxygenation of the area in return for the 24x7 foul odour leading to health hazards of asthma, lung stress to damage to electrical equipment. Authority officials are yet to come up with a plan for the area.
Anindita Franklin, a resident of P block of the sector complains about the lack of cleaning of the drain and has written to the pollution control board as well as Noida Authority over the matter seeking redress from the foul smell from the drain as well. “The drain opposite my residence, across the road and in front of Modern School, Sector 11, is mostly blocked, seldom cleaned and not covered properly resulting in the emission of extremely foul smell contaminating the air. A putrid stink always lingers in the air. In many places, the slab covering the drain is broken or removed. Something needs to be done about it with immediate effect as the foul smell is directly affecting the members of my house as well as my neighbours. Needless to say, we are inhaling this toxic air daily which is damaging our lungs and affecting our health adversely,” said Franklin who suffers from asthma and adds that it's her fundamental right to breathe clean air demanding urgent redress of the problem.
Anjana Bhagi RWA general secretary of the sector maintained that the irrigation drain is very wide and flows along with the community centre boundary wall. Next to it is Modern School. “Dirty smell from this drain make life hell for people living opposite side it which is mainly the P and S blocks of the sector even though it’s foul smell is all-encompassing the sector, especially at night,” said Bhagi.
Bhagi who is also the joint secretary of the Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Associations (FONRWA) adds that apart from sector 11, the Dhawalgiri apartments of sector 34 are on the other side of this drain which comprise a total of 488 multistorey flats across its many blocks with around 8000 people living in the area taking the total affected residents to about 18,000.
“I am a resident of the P block of Sector 11, facing the problems of the big drain. I request concerned authorities to cover the drain for the health of the residents,” said another resident from the sector.
According to Bhagi, the irrigation drain is nearly 36 feet broad in sector 11. “As there is no irrigation in Noida nowadays, so only sewage from Delhi flows in this drain. Even in Delhi, the drains are around 8 feet broad. Here, many issues can be solved by covering it,” said Bhagi adding that if a few slabs are put in the vertical direction between gaps it would be a big relief to the residents.
While about 215 million litres of effluent filled water flows through the length of the Kondli drain in Noida per day, wetlands to treat pollutants on the drain were proposed by the NGT appointed panellist consultant, Professor CR Babu from the Department of Environmental Studies, University of Delhi.
However, officials from Noida Authority are yet to devise a plan for its treatment in the Sector. “We have developed a wetland in sector 50 even as work is underway at sectors 91 and 137 on the same lines on the drain. In sector 50, aquatic plants suited for wetlands are planted which help clean the pollutants to improve the biological oxygen demand (BOD) or biological oxidation of organic matter. Some plans are underway for the sector 11 drain as well, but they are yet to be finalised. We cannot cover the drain as per the NGT guidelines and also, because the drain is very wide, over 20 ft. Some of the suggestions that are being looked at is to increase the boundary height barrier of the drain to avoid stray cattle from falling in it for the time being even as its cleaning will be done before the monsoon,” said an official from the authority.
Till then the residents have to brave it out.