Drains blocked for repairs, sewage floods streets; locals go to police

GURGAON: Palam Vihar residents approached police to complain against GMDA officials and an agency hired by the authority after sewage flooded roads in several blocks of the colony on Saturday due to an ongoing project nearby.

Residents alleged that at 1.30pm on Saturday, streets of E and F blocks were inundated with sewage as the sewer line in Sector 23A was blocked for repairs and desilting work without making any alternative arrangements. They said the passage to a stormwater drain was also obstructed, leading to wastewater gushing out of the pipeline.

Some residents said sewage entered their home and polluted their underground drinking water tanks. “The responsibility for this incident lies squarely with the contractor and the concerned GMDA officials. An FIR needs to be filed against those responsible, and appropriate legal action should be taken. The authority should assist residents and not create problems. Despite highlighting the grave risk, it took GMDA more than six hours to come to site,” said Bhanu Pande, president of F Block RWA.

Naresh Sharma, a resident of F block, said the flooding was a “nightmare and a major health risk”.

“The smell is unbearable, and even now there is muck and filth spread across the lanes. People are forced to walk through dirty roads. Over 100 families are affected, and some households are worried about contamination of drinking water. Neither GMDA nor MCG has anything to clean up the mess,” he said. Though the complaint was filed at the Palam Vihar police station, an FIR is yet to be registered.

A senior MCG official told TOI that a sanitation team will clean the area on Monday. A senior GMDA official conceded that the overflow was due to negligence of the agency hired for the project. “Action will be taken against the agency by the sewage wing (of GMDA). We have taken remedial measures and removed sewage through suction pumps. We have also tried to address water contamination complaints by emptying the water tanks,” the GMDA official added.