Well begun is half done, they say. But what if your day begins with the stink of an open drain? Bad, bad way to begin the day.
But for residents of Kendriya Vihar II and Swarnim Vihar in Sector 82, this is what they experience — every day.
Parents and children living in these apartments have to wait for school buses to pick the kids up right next to an open drain, which runs along the boundary of the apartments.
School buses stop on the main road that passes between these two apartments and the Sector 110 market, before moving on to the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. Waiting for the buses on this road is unbearable for parents and children alike.
Lalchand Tyagi, president of the Swarnim Vihar RWA, said, “My grandson is picked up from Gate No 1 by the school bus. I go to drop him every day. The place stinks so badly that it is impossible to even stop there, let alone wait.”
Dr GL Jambholkar, secretary of the Kendriya Vihar II RWA, said, “The drain has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. So with the stench on the one hand and mosquito bites on the other, waiting there is quite an ordeal.”
Residents said they have taken up the issue with Rama Raman, chairman and chief executive officer of Noida Authority, but the problem of the stagnant water and the stench remains. There has been no action taken on connecting this drain with the main drain of Noida Authority.
Manoj Kumar, project engineer of Noida Authority, told City Spidey, “The drain cannot be channelised, as the Authority does not have land for connecting it to the main drain. The Authority is in the process of acquiring land, and until that happens, residents will have to wait.”