Sewers choke as residents dump solid waste, plastic: Noida body
NOIDA: The Noida authority on Friday said that sewer lines get choked frequently because people in villages dumped their solid waste, including debris, plastic bags anywhere and everywhere at their will. The waste finally finds its way into the city’s master sewer lines, thereby choking them and causing sanitation issues in both rural and urban areas.
The Noida authority’s observation came a day after three sanitation workers were killed after allegedly inhaling poisonous gases inside a sewer in Noida’s Sector 110 on Thursday afternoon.
Police said the men, identified as Rajesh, 28, Vikas, 24 and Ravinder, 25, died while trying to pull each other out of the sewer.
JP Mandal, RWA president of Shramik Kunj, Sector 110 said the sewer line was overflowing and Noida authority had been requested to get it cleaned with a pressure machine.
Noida has 82 villages and 168 planned sectors, where it has properly laid sewer lines that are connected with the city’s master sewer.
However, a number of villages are yet to get sewer lines. The Noida authority does not have specific data on the number of villages that are equipped with sewer lines and villages which are not.
“Most of the complaints of clogged sewers come from areas where there is a village. The reason is simple, people are in the habit of dumping their waste anywhere they find space. Also, animal dung is dumped into our sewers one a large scale from villages. It affects the sewage system and in turn causes trouble in the urban areas,” said Raghunandan Yadav, senior project engineer of the Noida authority’s health department.
Apart from villages, Ghaziabad’s Khoda locality — that shares borders with Noida — also dumps solid waste and sewage into Noida’s master sewer line thereby putting additional burden on it. As per 2011 census, Khoda has a population of 1.9 lakh.
“Khoda does not have sewer lines of its own or a waste collection or disposal system. What they do there is dump the waste and sewer in our area. We have imposed fines and seized their vehicles many a times,” said Yadav.
The authority officials said they were planning to meet Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation counterparts soon to dicuss this issue of illegal dumping of waste and sewer into Noida.
Residents, however, believe that Noida authority has been failing to ensure that the sewers are not choked.
“Noida was build as a planned city only 40 years ago. Some areas of Noida in fact are just 10-20 years old. Then why are the sewers choking so frequently,” said Vipin Singh, a resident of Sector 50.
“Sewer line getting clogged is a normal occurrence. It happens in all the cities. But we will try to ensure that if sewers are cleaned then laid down procedure are followed,” said Samakant Shrivastava senior project engineer of the Noida authority.