Noida: A parked car rolled into an open roadside drain near Basai village in Sector 70 late on Thursday night, triggering concerns over civic safety in the area. No one was inside the vehicle at the time, preventing casualties.According to police, the car’s owner had parked it at the spot and stepped away briefly to purchase some items at the nearby market. While he was gone, the car suddenly rolled forward and fell into the uncovered drain.Locals alerted the police, and a team from Phase 3 reached the spot. Cops, with the help of locals, managed to pull the vehicle out of the drain. While the vehicle sustained damage, no people were injured.The incident once again highlighted the issue of open drains across the city and the risk they pose. Residents questioned the functioning of the Noida Authority, alleging negligence in covering roadside drains despite complaints.Such uncovered drains pose a constant threat to pedestrians and motorists, especially at night when visibility is low, residents said, raising demands for immediate action to cover the drains and implement safety measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.Police said no formal complaint has been filed in the matter so far.Last month, a 27-year-old software engineer drowned after his SUV fell through a damaged boundary wall and plunged into a flooded pit that had been dug-up for a commercial project in Sector 150.Yuvraj Mehta had been on his way home around midnight when the accident happened as he negotiated a sharp turn. Fog made visibility low, and the lack of lights in the area or reflective boards at the construction site meant he could not spot the danger ahead.Mehta, who did not know how to swim, put up a valiant effort to stay afloat, getting out of his Grand Vitara and climbing onto its roof. He had called his father and shared his WhatsApp location, repeatedly flashing the phone’s torch through fog in hopes that rescuers would hear his cries and spot him.Despite police teams, a fire brigade, a state disaster response force (SDRF) unit, and ultimately, their national counterparts NDRF, all reaching the spot over the next hour and a half, rescue attempts failed.
