Faridabad: Every time it rains, the Old Faridabad railway underpass gets filled with water. So far three people have lost their lives by drowning in it. Even after this the responsible officers are not taking any concrete action. Sometimes a school bus full of children and sometimes a bike gets stuck in it. Many times people have drowned along with their vehicles, but they were rescued in time. On Friday late evening, an SUV drowned in 11 feet deep water. This killed the manager and cashier of a private bank who were travelling in the car. This is not the only underpass where such accidents occur, but accidents have occurred due to waterlogging in NHPC as well.
The manager was going to drop the cashier home
Punya Ashray Sharma (48), who lived in Omaxe Heights Society of BPTP area of Faridabad, was the manager of HDFC Bank’s Gurgaon Sector-31 branch. His co-worker Viraj Trivedi (26) was also in the car with him. After partying in Faridabad, both left in the SUV. Sharma was going to drop Viraj. Due to continuous rain, the Old Faridabad underpass was filled with water. Police claim that they were forbidden to go through this route, but even after that, both of them started going through the underpass. Meanwhile, their car got stuck and drowned in 11 feet deep water. Seeing this, many people gathered and started shouting. The policemen present there informed the control room and the fire department. The fire department personnel and some local youths went inside and brought Sharma, who had come out of the car, in an unconscious state. He was declared dead in the hospital. Viraj was not found. The fire personnel pulled the car out, but the other person was not found. After this, the divers and SDRF team searched for Viraj at around 4 am on Saturday morning. The family refused to take any action.
Arrangements are not enough
Due to waterlogging in the Faridabad railway underpass, connectivity is lost. Thousands of people going from NIT to Old Faridabad and Faridabad to NIT face problems. In an attempt to get out in a hurry, people drive their vehicles into the water. This leads to accidents. The Municipal Corporation is adopting an irresponsible attitude in solving this problem, while the corporation claims that arrangements have been made for water drainage and there are plans to make improvements in the future as well. However, this is more on paper.
The NHPC underpass also remains submerged.
Due to waterlogging in the NHPC underpass, it loses connectivity with the National Highway. RWA officials say that they have to cross the railway line risking their lives to go to NHPC Metro Station. Due to waterlogging in the underpass, they are forced to cross the railway line. In view of all these problems, former Chief Minister Manohar Lal had inspected the underpass last year. He had asked the public representatives and administrative officials present on the spot to find a permanent solution to this. Looking at the waterlogging, it seems that the corporation did not care about Manohar Lal’s orders, due to which it gets filled with water even today.
