Noida: The city's most famous and prominent Sector 18 market continues to be in unkempt state despite the issue was raised by market association to officials of the Noida Authority.
Talking to CitySpidey, Sushil Kumar Jain, President of Sector 18 market association said, “Ever since the redevelopment of the area started, the green area has drastically decreased. We have suggested to the authority that they should plant low height trees, flowers and grass in the area which are easier to maintain than tall trees which die because of pollution.”
The commercial hub of Noida has become a picture of neglect and suffers from several civic and sanitation hurdles each day. And, with no solution to the already existing problem, the condition is worsening with each passing day.
The drains covers alongside the roads of the market have been left open or are in broken state. There are several open pits that don’t have concrete covers and many of these are in the center of the road. The pavements have broken floors making it difficult to move around.
Shweta, a regular visitor of the market told CitySpidey that though she has been going to the market for the last 20 years, she avoids taking her children with her due to lack of proper upkeep and sanitation of the area.
“It becomes a task to manage children as walking around has become difficult. The steps to the plazas are broken. One cannot walk without keeping a vigilant eye on the road.”
Not just the roads, live electricity wires can also be seen hanging in open. The doors of these high voltage boxes are either very old or stolen.
Akshay Kapoor, a trader sharing pictures of the civic condition of the market said, “Already, the customer footfall has fallen drastically owing to the callousness of the concerned officers. On the other hand, all the lanes of DLF mall are totally in contrast. They are spick and span. If the concerned officers cannot perform, then traders must demand a timely replacement. It is time to act.”
Interesting, on November 27, a team of officials from Noida Authority had come to the market and many of the concerns were acknowledged but no change in the situation has been seen in the last 12 days, and civic woes of the market continues to haunt the shop owners who are losing on business because of reduced footfall.
However, an action was seen on Tuesday when officials of the authority started putting iron panels on the non-covered drains of Block F of the market.
The drains in the market were covered with stone made covers earlier. It was replaced by iron-covers after cleaning the drains by the sanitation team of the authority.
Though the traders of the market feel that as the covers made out of iron have not been permanently fixed, soon ragpickers and junk collectors will steal it and sell them.
But a section of traders also feels that welding the covers or permanently fixing the cover will affect the cleaning adding to the civic woes of the area.
As per an official, high-quality iron has been used in the cover, keeping the requirement of place in mind.
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Broken pavement surface causes inconvenience to the passersby
Open drain covered by barricading
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Broken drain covers on the pavement
Open pit near the metro station
