Reality belies the dream -bijoux perles eau douce

Reality belies the dream By: zameen 01

W for many hen it was in its infancy, Noida was a dream destination for many. Away from a Delhi that was getting more congested and polluted by the day, its sister city offered open vistas and, most importantly, land at cheaper rates.
“We had expected that Noida would be a clean, peaceful city to stay in, hopefully less crowded and less polluted than Delhi,“ says Angelene Kaur, a young publishing professional who has lived in Sector 41 with her parents for the past 10 years.
Many of those expectations have come to naught while others have been fulfilled to some degree, as an HT-Ipsos MediaCT survey revealed.
The survey interviewed 3,000 Noida residents aged between 19 and 50+ years of age. Availability and quality of water, electricity, public transport, and healthcare facilities formed the most significant part of the survey's topics. And the top two issues that Noida residents felt could do with significant improvement were the water quality and power supply.
Murky waters Some of the interviews reveal that residents in most areas in Noida bemoan the quality of water, even if availability is not an issue.
“The water situation here is bad. Over the years, it has improved slightly but the water is salty and very muddy at times. The water line was supposed to be merged with the Ganga water line but that has still to happen completely.
Availability is not really a problem. Water is available twice a day, but everyone here needs a motor,“ says Priyanka Naik, a public relations professional who has lived in Sector 19 for the past five years with her parents.
Kaur echoes this experience. “The quality is horrible.
The water is dirty, hard and smelly. There is, however, no availability problem,“ she says.
Both their households recently got RO systems to cope with the poor quality of water, though some residents still buy 20-litre bottles of mineral water.
From the survey's respondents, 75 per cent are less than satisfied with the water supply in Noida, while 25 per cent say that the situation has deteriorated. Fifty-eight per cent of respondents say they use an RO or another water-purification system. A big number, 52 per cent, also said that they are willing to pay more for better water supply, and favour privatisation. That is hardly surprising considering the fact that 90 per cent believe that the fault lies squarely with the Noida Development Authority. The state government is also to blame, say 61 per cent of the 2,306 people who responded to waterrelated questions.
Power to the people?
More than water, power is a sore point with Noida residents.
“The situation has deteriorated. Along with more power cuts, there have been more electrical faults (incidents of transformers catching fire, electricity wire short-circuiting, etc) and high voltage fluctuation in the last few years,“ says Kaur.
Of the 2,246 respondents, 78 per cent said power cuts were a problem in Noida.
And though 33 per cent feel the situation has deteriorated, a higher percentage 39 per cent ? say the situation has improved compared to what it was earlier.
“We have two inverters, one for each floor, to cope with the situation. Other than that, every machine has been fitted with its own stabiliser,“ says Kaur, talking about how they cope with erratic and poor quality power supply.
About 46 per cent of the 2,246 respondents believe it is the responsibility of ">the Noida Development Authority to ensure better power supply. Of the same group, 86 per cent feel that privatisation of power supply will end their power-related woes. The Noida malls are also a source of irritation for the residents who feel that these establishments with their industrialgrade ACs, strong lighting and walk-in coolers contribute to the scarcity of power. Fifty-six per cent of the 2,246 people who commented on the power situation feel that shutting down malls for a day every week would alleviate the power shortage. In fact, a higher percentage of people who have lived in Noida for the past 15 years agree with this as a valid measure to conserve power. However, 34 per cent of the women who responded to the survey disagree.
`We do not feel safe' Of the 1,314 respondents who answered questions relating to the law and order situation in Noida, 42 per cent believe crime is on the rise, while 44 per cent believe it's unchanged. A whopping 83 per cent do not feel safe travelling at night. Carjackings and other such incidents are on the rise, say 81 per cent of the respondents.
Residents are coping by avoiding travel at night. And, opinions of female residents are illustrative of the general unease. “I am not allowed to stay out late at night. I drive on main roads only, avoiding arterial roads and lanes.
Because my parents have started worrying more, I have to call in whenever possible to let them know where I am,“ says Naik.
Kaur, who lives in a sector with large patches of uninhabited space, says, “My mother and I don't step out alone after dark unless in a car. If we do have to walk out after dark, we restrict our movement to our sector. We usually go out in pairs. We have recently got gear locks installed in our cars. We avoid lonely stretches even though the other route may be longer
Courtesy:-HT Estate 23-10-2010
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