Waterlogging chokes Noida after heavy rains

Several roads stretches and residential areas of Uttar Pradesh's Noida were submerged in water on Wednesday after a spell of heavy rains that threw life out of gear for residents.

Residents also complained of water entering basements of high-rise buildings. Many people took to social media to share pictures and videos of the rain fury, with ankle to knee-deep water at places, while some alleged mismanagement by government agencies over the problem.

Waterlogging also impacted commercial sectors of 62 and 63, 10, 12, 32 as well as several villages in Noida, while large swathes of low-lying open grounds, like in Sector 7x and along the expressways, were inundated.

Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari said on Twitter that residents can call the round-the-clock helpline number - 0120-2423795 - for early resolution of waterlogging in their area.

Her tweet came a day after the Noida Authority's board approved a budget of Rs 4,640 crore for the ongoing fiscal year. The funds are to be used for development works, among others, according to officials.

"There has been intermittent rainfall but downpour from 9 am to 1 pm was so heavy that I could not see the high-rise building, some 500 metres distant from mine," Sector 76 resident Ankur Srivastava said.

The worst-hit were people who could not reach office and industries that employed them. Some even alleged no help by Noida Authority despite complaints.

"We are already working with low number of staff due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The rains just increased the trouble. On Wednesday, we had 25 per cent less staff in attendance while those who came for work faced hardships due to waterlogging," Arun Kumar of the Festo India engineering company in Phase II told PTI.

He said his company reached out to the government agency as did some other firms from the area to complaint about the problem but claimed that there was no follow-up or resolution.

"It was knee-deep water in the morning. The main reason is that there is a drain along the road near our company and it was not properly cleaned. Also, the size of the drain is smaller than it should have been ideally. Hence, the overflow and waterlogging," Kumar said.

Waterlogging was also reported at the Chief Medical Officer's office, Mahila Thana, Road Transport Office, among other government buildings in Noida.

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