Noida: When Sandeep Kumar moved into a flat at Eldeco Live by the Greens for over Rs 2 crore in 2025, he believed he was going to live in one of Noida’s most premium addresses. Today, his daily commute begins with navigating a stretch of broken road riddled with potholes. “The last time I counted, there were at least 10 potholes on the road leading to the roundabout near our society,” Kumar said.Sector 150 was planned as a premium low-density and high-greenery township, where a flat in a luxury condominium cost nearly Rs 2-3 crore. Its strategic location near the Noida and Yamuna expressways offered easy access to the planned Noida International Airport. The sector houses around 20,000 people today, but with damaged roads, waterlogging in “green belts”, poor sanitation and lighting, stray cattle and weak mobile connectivity, it has lost its high-end sheen.The residents claimed that heavy trucks loaded with construction material to farmhouse sites along the Yamuna Pushta road continue to ply the sector’s roads, aggravating the damage. Large stretches remain scarred with potholes, unfinished patches and broken shoulders, even as several internal roads are yet to be completed. They said the entire sector also depends on a single exit to the Noida Expressway.“The sector ends approximately 5 km from Sector 148 metro station and there is no public transport, forcing residents to rely on expensive cabs. Our sector is practically isolated from the rest of the city,” a resident of Tata Eureka Park, Nitin Verma, said. “A dedicated bus service should connect residential clusters with Pari Chowk, Botanical Garden, Faridabad, Gurgaon and major commercial hubs in Delhi.” He added that peripheral roads near the Pushta Road need widening and all incomplete stretches should be finished before more people move in.Beyond the broken roads, residents said the roads are rarely clean and the air is heavy with dust. The lack of footpaths forces pedestrians onto the carriageways. The drains overflow regularly during the monsoon, flooding the greenbelts. “Wherever you look there is trash. Right now, they are under water; otherwise, they are littered with garbage,” a resident of Godrej Nest, Gagan, said.The sector grabbed attention in Jan this year when young IT professional Yuvraj Mehta drowned in an open construction pit. Gagan said the weak network came into focus on that fog-laden Jan 16, when calls could not be connected reliably. The sector is served by only one mobile tower, leading to frequent call drops. “We often wonder if Yuvraj’s life could have been saved had he been able to contact his father on time,” he said.As darkness falls, they say, the problems become more pronounced. Several stretches remain poorly lit, there is no police chowki within the sector and residents claim PCR patrols are infrequent. Sameer Saini, a resident of Eldeco Live By The Greens, alleged that despite repeated drives against illegal farmhouses in the Yamuna floodplains, fresh plotting and construction continue. “Late-night parties, loud music and drinking at these farmhouses make the surrounding societies feel unsafe,” he said.Mehta’s death triggered demands for accountability from the Noida Authority and stronger safeguards around hazardous sites. While residents acknowledged that barricades and lighting were installed near the pit, they said little has changed beyond that. Saini said that within a month after the tragedy, the area was encroached upon by vendors.Responding to the allegations, AK Arora, general manager of the Noida Authority, said road and drain works had been delayed because of the monsoon and would begin within a month after the rains. He said drains are being cleaned daily, agreements for road safety works at 11 crossings are under preparation, anti-encroachment drives against illegal vendors are carried out every day and vehicles have been deployed to remove stray cattle from the sector.
