Invitation to fall, everywhere

Ghaziabad: Poonam Tyagi has been reaching the bus stop 10 minutes early every day to pick up her 9-year-old son. The 37-year-old mother of three has been living in constant fear that her son would trip and fall into the unguarded pit that was dug 10 metres away from her Indirapuram apartment complex, Shipra Shristi, nearly 15 days ago.

Several areas of Ghaziabad, including Indirapuram, Vaishali, Vasundhra and Crossings Republik, have been dug up for over a month to lay concrete footpaths, pipelines and repair the damaged ones under CM-GRID projects. Most of these sites lack a proper barricade, posing a safety hazard for pedestrians and commuters alike. A TOI team even saw some of the barricades sitting misplaced, either in the middle of the road or on mounds of soil collected nearby.

“I am scared for my son. There are no barricades to ensure that the vehicles reduce their speed,” Tyagi said. “For the amount we pay to live here, the safety standards are very low. The society’s repeated complaints to the GMC have gone unheard.”

For daily commuters like Karmveer Singh, who works as a porter in the area, driving at night is a little more dicey. “I would have died that night,” Singh recalled. “I was on my way to deliver an order at Ahimsa Khand. My bike was behind a car. Suddenly, one of his tyres went into the pit. I pressed the brake handle quite hard and fell from the bike. I was saved because I was not speeding and was wearing a helmet or else I would have been dead.”

A Vaishali resident, Biresh Gupta, said the govt should take necessary precautions before undertaking revamps one after another. “They keep digging pits and do not even cover them on time. One can even see the iron rods peeking from that ditch,” he said. “Imagine someone not noticing that in the dark. Who do you think should be held accountable for it?”

Sushil Aggarwal, one of the contractors who was awarded the contract for the work in Gupta’s neighbourhood a month ago, only started the project on Sunday. He said he did not have enough labourers to begin the work. “I have the contract of laying the concrete footpaths here. If I carry on with the same pace, I will be able to wrap up the work in over a month,” he said.

When asked why there were no safety nets or barricades, Aggarwal said that it was the responsibility of the municipal corporation.

GMC’s chief engineer, NK Chaudhury, said, “These are CM GRID-related works. We are ensuring the construction of footpaths and drainage pipelines in the area, and it will take almost one and a half years to finish.” He said these works would prevent flooding in Ghaziabad during the rainy season.

Talking about the lack of safety measures around the revamp areas, Chaudhury said the responsibility for putting up nets and barricades lies with the respective contractors, and some of them have been issued notices in the past. “The labourers do not put the barricades back,” he said. “We will check all areas and put the barricades back.”