Are I'puram residents bribing GDA to unblock choked sewers?​
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Are I'puram residents bribing GDA to unblock choked sewers?​

Residents say officials are taking undue advantage of helpless residents, who have no option but to pay off GDA employees to get rid of the sewage flooding their society basements.

Are I'puram residents bribing GDA to unblock choked sewers?​

Residents of Ahinsa Khand II in Indirapuram allege that they have to bribe Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) officials and the super-sucker truck operators to unblock choked sewers.

Choked sewers have been a constant problem for Ahinsa Khand societies. Maintenance managers of several societies said owing to blocked sewer lines, it was common for waste water to flow back into the society, flooding the basement and underground parking area. They said the water also seeps into their buildings, damaging the structure.

Alok Kumar, a resident of Arihant Harmony and founder of FedAOA, told City Spidey that the AOAs had no option but to pay off GDA employees to get rid of the sewage flooding their societies. "The officials are taking undue advantage of helpless residents," said Kumar. "They have set a fixed price of Rs 10,000 for the services which are supposed to be provided for free."

Kumar further said the only long-term solution to the problem was the replacing the existing sewer lines with larger, high-capacity pipes. We filed a PIL (public interest litigation) at Allahabad High Court in February 2016, to which the court passed an order directing GDA to sort out the issue. A year after the court's order, choked sewer lines are still a major problem for societies," added Kumar.

BK Pandey, estate manager of Arihant Harmony, told City Spidey that all societies faced problems with the sewer system every two to three months. This means each AOA doles out Rs 10,000 every two or three months. "I now take the services of private service providers instead of bribing GDA officials," Pandey added.

On condition of anonymity, a maintenance manager said the operators charge societies on the pretext that the choked sewers were not GDA's but private, and owned by the society. "That is not the case," said the manager. "The choked sewers belong to GDA."

When contacted, Vijay Kumar Yadav, GDA vice-chairman, said it was the first time he had heard such allegations. He acknowledged that the operators might charge money for cleaning the sewers inside the society. However, Yadav assured that he would sort out the issue.