Well-planned Noida escapes water-logging unlike Delhi

While two hours of high intensity rain caused water-logging in several part of Noida on Friday morning, it was nowhere near as worse as what Delhi underwent. Better planned infrastructure, including a stormwater drainage network, scientific development of underpasses, and a planned sewer network helped Noida escape the flooding and mayhem that Gurugram and Delhi witnessed on Friday, said experts.

While Delhi and Gurugram roads and underpasses were fully submerged by rainwater, the incessant rainfall caused only normal levels of water-logging in Noida’s sectors 57, 58, 59 and 62. .

“Noida is a planned city like Chandigarh while Gurugram and Delhi are not planned cities. Apart from Lutyens’ Delhi, the remaining parts of the national capital did not develop in a planned manner. Even Gurugram was developed in piecemeal manner. In Noida, the authority acquires agricultural land in bulk, develops roads, drainage and sewage network and other infrastructure, anticipating the needs for the next 100 years or more, and then allots land to realtors or individuals,” said Atul Gupta, Noida zone president of Uttar Pradesh Architects and Town Planners’ Association.

”Gurugram follows a different model that often leads to civic mess and Delhi is growing on its own as per the demand without first laying down even the basic civic infrastructure in most areas ,” Gupta said.

“Gurugram failed to follow the Noida model. There, a builder obtains a licence from the state government, purchases farmland for housing and starts construction even before infrastructure such as roads or drainage is put in place, leading to a civic mess in the future. The situation in Delhi. In Delhi’s urban villages, illegal housing and commercial development is rampant without having a proper drainage network to channelise rainwater,” said Gupta.

Deepak Agarwal, a private architect and town planner, said a comparison of Noida with Gurugram or Delhi was not justified as all three have totally different topography and population pressures.

There are around 450,000 registered vehicles in Gautam Budh Nagar district and around 550,000 vehicles ply daily on Noida roads. Whereas in Gurugram, there are 1 million registered vehicles and about 100,000 new vehicles get added every year in that city. Delhi has more than 10.2 million registered vehicles, said Agarwal.

“Gurugram is located between hills while Noida lies between two rivers. As a result, rainwater easily flows into the two rivers through the 14 major drains in the city. Also Noida authority installs water pumps to pump out rainwater to make sure there is no water-logging in low lying areas,” said Agarwal.

The Noida authority is an independent single window agency that develops expressway, underpasses, well developed parks, elevated roads, drains and sewage.

“The Noida authority first developed the city’s master plan, which is sacrosanct and gets followed. But in the Gurugram or Delhi, development takes place is in parts without bothering about the basic infrastructure. As a result, drainage in Delhi and Gurugram is not properly integrated causing water-logging,” said a Noida authority official, aksing not to be named.

The Noida authority keeps upgrading drainage in old areas and all 82 Noida villages are connected with sewage network unlike Gurugram or Delhi.

“The Noida authority did not let any developer lay drainage or sewage network. In Gurugram a developer develops drains and sewage in their projects,” said the same official quoted above.

Noida authority chief executive officer Lokesh M said they have cleaned all stormwater drains well in advance of the rainy season, and also addressed the gaps in arrangements for handling water-logging.

“We have been carrying out site inspections in the city since the past two months, to check the stormwater drain cleaning work. We de-silted drains, and also put filters to remove plastic and other waste that choke drains and cause water-logging. Also, we have installed water pumps at 14 sites, which are low lying and also at underpasses so that traffic does not get disturbed during rain. We got complaints of water-logging from sectors 57, 58, 61 and 62 areas and that is because Khoda rainwater flows into Noida. We are addressing issues if any to make sure citizens do not face any problem with water-logging,” said Lokesh M.