Residents of Noida's Sector 50, other parts flag open drains, seek covers

NOIDA: Residents have demanded drain covers in their respective areas after a 19-year-old Amity law student fell into an open rainwater drain on the Yamuna Expressway service road near Yamuna Gaur City on Monday and died.
Residents of Sector 50, F block, have raised concerns over the 500m-long uncovered portion of a 1.25km-long drain, saying a similar accident might happen in their sector.
Similarly, residents living near open drains in Noida sectors 62, 23, 34, 70 and more, and Greater Noida sectors 1, Delta 1, and Gamma 1, the Supertech Ecovillage 1-Rise Chowki stretch, Techzone 4 and Sports City flagged the problem. Residents of Greater Noida West identified three spots where drains lie open on both sides of a 60m-wide road—between Charmurti and Hanuman temple, the temple and Ace City, Ace City and Rise Chowki.
In Sector 50, the Noida Authority started covering the open drain a couple of years ago, but nearly 500m of it has been lying uncovered for over a year. “We have been scared since we heard the news. We have an open rainwater drain passing through the F block, with nearly a dozen apartment complexes near it. The work on covering the drain began after repeated complaints from residents, but part of it still lies open,” said Rajesh Singh, RWA general secretary, F block, Sector 50.
"The open drain has become a major problem for us. We fear an accident might happen here, especially when it is dark,” said a resident.
NC Agarwal, another resident, said the uncovered drain poses a health hazard too. “All day, the drain emanates a foul smell. Domestic helpers, who work in the homes of residents here, and passers-by often dump garbage and polyethene bags into the drain, adding to the foul smell. The authority does not clean the drain routinely, which leads to mosquito breeding as well,” said Agarwal.
Sripal Bhati, deputy general manager of Noida Authority, who is in charge of the Sector 50 area, told TOI that he would look into the matter.
Rahul Gurjar, a resident of Greater Noida, said, "Several accidents are happening, especially at night, due to the broken covers of drains or open drains in Greater Noida. A cow got trapped in the drain in front of Gaur Atulyam Society in Sector Omicron 1 yesterday (on Tuesday). After many efforts, people rescued her. A week earlier, another cow fell into a drain in Sector Xu 2. Officials should take cognizance of this issue and take steps."