"Am I on the right path?" No, that's not a pressing life question, but one that you will often find yourself asking in Indirapuram, if you are new to the area. There are signboards to help, you might think, but take a look for yourself at the images below — do they in any way indicate the route to the intended destinations?
Not only are most signs broken — indicating either just the name or the arrows — many others are hidden by overgrown trees and ad boards, and hence as good as invisible to commuters.
Commuters then have to rely on passers-by, shopkeepers and other landmarks for directions, which can often become difficult.
Here’s what Mahesh Gupta, a senior citizen who comes to Indirapuram to visit his daughter in Niti Khand, has to say: “Instead of relying on the boards as I should, I use cigarette kiosks and other small shops as landmarks."
Sailesh Shrivastava, a marketing employee at a telecom company, too, feels the same way. He recently shifted to Indirapuram. “In the absence of proper directions, I often get confused because the 'khand's, or sector divisions, are not located serially. Moreover, the 'khand's, such as Gyan Khand, are further divided into 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th areas. Maybe I will get used to them over time, but right now it's very inconvenient," he says.
Alok Kumar, a resident of Arihant Harmony in Ahinsa Khand 2 and the founder of FedAOA, said that some of the signboards had been repaired by GDA after repeated complaints by residents. "But," he adds, "some are yet to be fixed. We also need more such boards in various other locations to make travelling in Indirapuram easier."
City Spidey took up the matter with Chakresh Jain, executive engineer of GDA. He assured that the authority would conduct surveys, repair the damaged boards and instal new ones where necessary.
“Repairing can happen promptly, but to instal new boards, certain formalities need to be fulfilled. So this may take some time,” he adds.
