112 families move out after Gzb cavein Towards an action plan for drainage and flood control
FEELING UNSAFE Residents say they’re concerned about structural safety of buildings near the site
GHAZIABAD: Around 112 families living in two colonies in Sector 4C in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, were forced to spend the night away from their homes after a road caved in near their buildings on Thursday morning. The families said they were concerned about the structural safety of the buildings, which were located next to the caved-in road.
The agencies, meanwhile, said they were engaged in repair work on the road, which they said is likely to end by Friday night or Saturday morning.
The residents of the two colonies — Vartalok and Pragya — said each of the seven residential blocks, whose residents moved out on Thursday night, have 16 flats each. The societies were developed around 20 years ago by UP’S housing development corporation — UP Avas Vikas — and have residential towers with ground plus three storeys.
Vartalok resident Gyan Prakash Pandey said since he has no relatives who live nearby, he was forced to book two hotel rooms for his family by shelling out ₹15,000.
“I had to house seven members of my family in a nearby hotel, while I returned to check progress of work. I will not move till the time the repair work is completed and authorities assure us about the structural safety of our houses,” Pandey said.
Locals said the road caved in as a result of a nearby vacant plot that had been dug up five years ago and now had ended up becoming a massive rainwater pool. Vartalok, Pragya, one college and Sector 4B’s Shiv Ganga society surrounded the vacant plot.
The cave-in occurred around 7.30am on Thursday on a corner adjacent Vartalok and Pragya colonies.
“My wife had been suffering from jaundice the past week. It was a difficult decision, but we moved out for the night. Five of us went to one of my friend’s house in Vasundhara’s Sector 3. On our society’s Whatsapp group, people also came forward and offered the keys of their vacant flats to families in need,” said Manish Jain, a teacher at a school in south Delhi’s RK Puram.
Rajiv Kumar, president of the Vartalok society RWA, said most of the residents went to their friends’ and relatives’ homes and no one wanted to stay in the vacant flats in the colony.
“We had 6-7 vacant flats which other residents offered. But most families had already moved. Some adjusted with other residents. All families which moved away were taken care of by other residents who prepared extra food and helped neighbours in distress,” he added.
Anuj Goel said he was among the first people who reached the cave-in site on Thursday morning. He said he tried his best to stop flow of drainage into the caved-in section.
“Along with some neighbours, I first secured the two sides of the road with bamboo sticks. Then we searched for bricks and placed them on road to prevent excessive flow into the cave-in area. But the situation got out of hand and we informed authorities,” said Goel, an executive with a Noida-based company.
“The boundary wall of Vartalok was hanging over the cave-in area with our block just 5-6 feet away. This is scary. I was lucky that my brother stays in Sector 14 and my family moved there,” he said.
Harsh Mani, a resident of Pragya society, moved to his cousin’s house in nearby Sector 5. “I have three children, including an 11-month-old. We will stay away till repair work is finished,” Mani said.
For most part of the day on Friday, a majority of male members took leave from their offices and returned to the site to access the situation. Most of the houses of the two societies were locked and residents had also moved their vehicles away from the complex.
Ghaziabad district magistrate Ritu Maheshwari said, “We are expecting that the work will get over by tonight (Friday night). In case it gets prolonged, we will try to make arrangements for residents. A structural safety assessment report is awaited from the Central Road Research Institute.” mitigate the problem. Drainage needs to be linked with the ecology and green networks by adopting the concept of “bio-drainage”.
For a sustainable drainage system, effluent treatment plants should be provided at outfall of drains and aeration units at interceptions with advanced techniques for maintenance of drains. A time-bound action programme for augmentation and capacity revision of existing and new drains to cater to any increase in run-off is also vital.
The plan must preserve the natural drainage pattern by provision of check dams, bio-swales, soakways, filter trenches, infiltration basins, retention ponds and aeration units. Lakes may be designed for increasing ground water table and for storm water holding points wherever needed.
The drains should be assigned a right of way and inviolable greens buffer (say 50 to 200 m for major drains and canals and 10 to 50 m for minor drains). The water bodies and ponds should be recovered and revived, which along with drains can create green corridors.
A digital, real-time database should be prepared together with Gis-based drainage mapping and planning should be promoted. Drainage should be an integral part of road development plans, flyovers and grade separators. Sub-wells may be developed under flyovers for trapping rainwater. Pump houses in low-lying areas should be provided with back-up power. Remodelling of selected drains is also required considering the upstream flow in the region.