Ghaziabad: Roads across trans-Hindon have been dug up all at once under the CM-GRID project, leaving the area choked with dust and debris. With the monsoon now here, soil mounds piled along the roads are washing away, turning stretches slushy and hard to navigate.Many of the trenches, some as deep as 10 feet, remain without barricades, adding to the risk for commuters and residents alike. In several townships, like Shipra Suncity, the main access has been cut off. Residents ask why the work wasn’t done in phases: drain lines laid and closed before the next dig begins?A couple of days ago, a resident of Antriksh Greens, Sikha Sharma, had gone to collect her children from school, located nearly 3 kilometres away on her scooter. Like many residents navigating the rain-soaked roads, she assumed the waterlogged stretch ahead was a levelled road covered by a shallow puddle. Barely 200 metres from her house, one of the tyres suddenly got stuck in the sludge and she lost balance. “It looked like a small puddle and I thought I could cross it,” she said. “I was about to fall but somehow managed to save myself. I just keep wondering if the same thing would have happened to me at night.”Her experience is not unique. Across Indirapuram, Vaishali, Vasundhara and neighbouring areas, residents say that despite repeated complaints, the authorities have failed to restore damaged roads or remove construction debris before the onset of monsoon. Waterlogged pits, open manholes, heaps of mud, broken road surfaces and medians are creating dangerous conditions for motorists, commuters and pedestrians alike. Added to these is the ever-looming bane of traffic congestion.The upgrades have disrupted the lives of thousands. Residents have been left wondering why the authorities did not phase out the digging to minimise the impact. A resident of Shipra Sun City in Indirapuram, Neeraj Tyagi, said, “Out of the four gates to our society, only one is functional now. The roads around all the gates have been dug up. Ideally, the authorities should have excavated in phases.”His daily commute to Okhla has become significantly longer. “I now leave at least 45 minutes earlier every day because I have to deal with this problem twice. Now I have to go around the society just to reach gate number 3 before joining the main road,” he said. “Then, there are long queues of cars and people honking relentlessly. Why is there no planning before starting such projects?”For Sharma, the problem extends beyond commuting. She fears the stagnant water collecting in the excavated portions could soon become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. “The roads were already dusty during summer. Now, with the monsoon, we are worried about malaria and dengue as well,” she said. “They dug up the road, placed huge cement pipes and simply left the site.”In Vaishali, residents say unfinished roadwork has disrupted movement as it is one of the area’s busiest commercial zones.Madhu Gupta, cultural secretary of Arthah in Vaishali Sector 3, said the condition of roads has made even short walks hazardous.“Our society is located in the middle of the main market. The roads have been dug up and residents are left to find their own way through the mess. The roads are completely uneven. Loose stones and pebbles are scattered everywhere. Even the road dividers have been broken and left unattended,” she said. “This is only the beginning of the monsoon. Once the showers become more regular, the problem will intensify.”Business owners, too, say the deteriorating road conditions are affecting both customers and vehicles. Vikas Mohan, a resident of Orange County in Indirapuram who runs a shop at Lotus Plaza Market, said construction debris and mud routinely spill onto the roads after every shower. “Once it rains, all the piled-up debris spreads across the road. Since the roads are already narrowed because of the digging, the muddy slush reduces the usable carriageway even further,” he said.According to Mohan, the uneven roads are also damaging vehicles. “Sedans are particularly affected because their underbody scrapes against the broken road surface. It has started affecting vehicles and increasing maintenance costs,” he said.A resident of Ramprastha Greens society said the authorities have now started digging up the central median as well, leaving behind huge cement blocks and construction material along the road. “From Gate No. 3 to Gate No. 2, one can see massive piles of cement blocks lying on the roadside because work on the median has just begun. The roads have not even been concretised after the excavation,” he said.
