Noida: The security guard outside Expo Mart has learnt to read the events calendar at the centre by the state of the drain outside. When an event is coming, sanitation workers show up and remove the muck. When the event ends, the attention dissipates.Expo Mart is barely 500 metres from Knowledge Park 2’s Kaladham society, where 6-year-old Avyaan Surya drowned in a water-filled pit — nearly 15 feet deep — dug up for installing a tubewell on July 25 evening.Two days after the boy’s death, dozens of open drains and unbarricaded construction pits still sit waiting in plain sight across Noida and Greater Noida.“Most of the people working near Expo Mart park their vehicles along the drain. It is so unsafe, but no one says anything,” the guard said.
Vehicles parked next to Expo Mart drain
In Noida’s Sector 150, along a stretch of nearly 2 km, stands an abandoned construction pit, its concrete pillars and rusted reinforcement bars jutting out. It lies close to where Yuvraj Mehta, 27, a software engineer, drowned in Jan this year.Located right next to ATS Pristine, the site has no barricades or warning signs around it. Just 50 metres away, an uncovered sewer drain continuously discharges water into the pit, filling it with stagnant sewage and turning the abandoned excavation site into the trench that claimed Mehta’s life.
Located right next to ATS Pristine, the Sector 150 drain has no barricades or warning signs around it
Anant Chaudhary, who lives nearby, said nothing changed after Mehta’s death. “The area (where the pit stands) was supposed to be developed under the Sports City project, but all we have now are abandoned pits. One day someone will fall into one of these, and only then will the authorities wake up.”In Greater Noida’s Kulesra village, a drain running beside a row of furniture shops along Dadri Main Road has overflowed onto the carriageway. Shopkeepers told TOI that the drain has been choked with discarded iron pipes and waste for months, and thick algae accumulated along its edges makes the area extremely slippery.
Thick algae has accumulated along the edges of the Kulesra drain, making the area extremely slippery
“Last night, a man fell into the drain and iron rods protruding from the drain injured his shoulder. He had to be taken to hospital,” said Mohammad Danish, a resident. He said Greater Noida Authority officials promise to clean the drain each time they submit complaints.“The same assurances are repeated throughout the year, but even when the rains have arrived, nothing has changed,” he said.Down the same road, a shopkeeper, Rohit, told TOI the drain has not been cleaned for over a year. “We are now tired of complaining,” he said.In Sector 52, Noida’s office hub, a damaged drain cover has gone unrepaired for days along a road that funnels heavy traffic between sectors 72, 79, 98 and 107. Outside the rear gate of Spectrum Mall, the edge of an open drain has effectively become an informal parking lot. Cars and two-wheelers are routinely parked alongside the drain, leaving little space for pedestrians.
Retaining wall of Sector 51 drain lies broken in several sections
Ramesh, who runs a tyre repair shop nearby, said the practice has become common in recent months. “People park here because there is no fee. A few days ago, a man almost slipped into the drain. He managed to grab the edge and escaped. During rain, the surface becomes extremely slippery,” he said.Residents said these open drains, damaged covers or abandoned construction pits point to systemic neglect rather than isolated lapses. Harinder Bhati of Greater Noida’s Alpha Sector 2 said complaints vanish, with no follow-up. “There is no count of complaints that we file. We take photos and videos and try to show it to officials, but nothing moves,” he said.Neetu Sharma, in Sector 72, said occasionally there is patchwork here or a barricade there. But during monsoon, the drains disappear beneath sheets of rainwater and open drains become invisible until it is too late. “Children walk to school, cycle to nearby parks and play in these neighbourhoods every day. What scares us the most is that we cannot keep a watch on them every second,” she said.
