Of Drains & Ramps: a Mental Block?
For years, Noida was a less-preferred location compared to Delhi and Gurugram. Crime, Corruption, inaccessibility, distance, were big, big deterrents. Regardless, Noida has an advantage that will outlast the glamour of other NCT areas: it’s a planned city. So whereas Gurugram mushroomed like a wild growing ginger plant and Delhi is swamped by a never ending population explosion, Noida, with its structured planning and sustainable model is the “lambe race ka ghoda”. Just a few months ago, as Delhi and Gurugram drowned in monsoon floods, Noida remained almost entirely unaffected.
But well begun is only half done. As the population expands exponentially, civic amenities are increasingly strained. Residents complain constantly of sewer overflow and choked drains due to poor cleaning and gradient issues. The Noida Authority enlisted an expert agency to redesign the drainage and sewage network. And therein lies the rub. A resident of Sec 40 chronicled in Samvada, the woes of relaying sewage lines, broken ramps, ruptured water pipes, snapped communication lines, dumps of mud and sludge strewn throughout the Sector. Our Sector is soon going to go through such similar endeavor in two blocks as new sewer lines will be installed.
Both Storm Water and Sewer Drains depend on 2 unalterable necessities. Continuity and gradient. Noida Authorities has blindly permitted ramps be constructed without enforcing accessibility to the Drains. Newly constructed houses seem to enjoy a perverse pleasure in creating monstrously high ramps intruding into common areas, leaving no space for footpaths. Any attempt in rectifying the situation can only be achieved by taking a strong unequivocal stand and ruthless implementation, but Noida Authorities has assumed an impotency that is appalling. Everything that should not be done is being done. A simple example is the case of ignoring sill height of internal parking to exceed 7 feet. Does it require Confucius to understand that the Internal Parking areas will be converted into rooms, and cars will again be parked on the Roads?
So half-done will soon become quite undone. Myopic Residents who cannot see the big picture, corrupt officials who happily pocket a small amount for their all important signatures. An indifferent Management and various small time interests are combining to make Noida a lost Dream.
