Sector 150 waterlogged, residents blame Noida authority for delaying Hindon regulator
For the past two years, residents have been told that a regulator is going to be installed on Hindon to end the problem of waterlogging but so far, not even a design survey has been done, say residents
Residents of a dozen group housing societies in Sector 150 are grappling with heavy waterlogging in their localities following the heavy rain since Wednesday evening and they blamed the Noida authority for delaying the construction of a regulator on the Hindon embankment near their area, resulting in the flooding.
The rainwater filled basements of societies in Sector 150, which is home to ultra luxury housing and newly built housing societies. Residents said the Noida authority failed to address the issue for the past one year despite repeated complaints.
Among the towers in the area located near the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway are “unltra luxury” housing projects of ATS, ACE Group, Tata, Eldeco, Samridhi and Godrej.
Residents of sectors 150 and 151 were shocked to find their building basements waterlogged on Thursday.
“We were amazed when we came to Sector 150 for the first time. It is one of the finest sectors in NCR with low population density but Noida authority’s apathy is not only distorting the image of this sector but also putting people’s life in danger. Neither the engineering department nor the health department is paying heed to our issues despite the fact that we demanded timely action to address the waterlogging issue,” said Manmeet Kaur, an apartment owner in Sector 150 society Parkway.
The maintenance department in these societies had to use water pumps to dewater the basements.
“For the past two years, we have been told that a regulator is going to be installed on Hindon to end the problem but so far, not even a design survey has been done for that. The Noida authority at the very least must clean the choked drains so that sewer water does backflow into societies,” said Aman Kumar, a resident of a Sector 151 society.
On October 4, 2023 a joint team of the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department and the Noida authority conducted a site inspection to ascertain the measures required to channel the rainwater from newly developed areas, including sector 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 148A, 150 and 151, among others, into the Hindon.
Following the site inspection, the irrigation department wrote to the Noida authority officials about the steps to be taken to build a ‘head hydraulic regulator’ that can help in draining rainwater from these areas into Hindon. The irrigation department and the Noida authority had also agreed to spend ₹30 lakh on the construction of regulator but it has not been built as yet thereby causing waterlogging issues.
“We had conducted the site inspection and decided to build not only the regulator but also new concrete drains to make sure that there is no waterlogging in these sectors. The authority is working on the project and the work on this will soon start by the civil department to address waterlogging,” said RP Singh, deputy general manager, Noida authority.
“We have asked the Noida authority to carry out a survey of the site once again because the experts had suggested some changes in the initial design of the regulator to be constructed. Once the Noida authority carries out a fresh survey and submit the report, we can take this project forward,” said an official from the irrigation department, asking not to be named.