Waterlogging dilutes productivity for Gurugram by 93 pc, Delhi by 71 pc, Noida by 49 pc: Survey

Up to 93 per cent commuters in Gurugram, 71 per cent in Delhi and 49 per cent in Noida feel they "end up losing working hours or productivity" due to waterlogging and traffic woes during the monsoon season, a new survey has found.

Additionally, 96 per cent commuters in Gurugram, 88 per cent in Delhi and 66 per cent in Noida say they "end up spending much more time in traffic" due to waterlogging, according to the findings.

Coducted via the LocalCircles platform, the survey claims to have had 3,186 responses from Delhi, 2,965 from Gurugram and 2,839 from Noida. All the participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate.

Residents of Gurugram experienced the worst waterlogging and related troubles when compared to their counterparts in Delhi and Noida, the survey findings suggest.

Asked about the experience of the past couple of years vis-à-vis waterlogging during the monsoon in Gurugram, 86 per cent respondents said "Yes, quite badly" and 11 per cent said "Yes, somewhat".

In Delhi, 63 per cent respondents said "Yes, quite badly" while 34 per cent said "Yes, somewhat". In Noida, 37 per cent said "Yes, quite badly" while 51 per cent said "Yes, somewhat", according to the findings.

In Gurugram, 96 per cent respondents said they "end up spending much more time in traffic" followed by 88 per cent in Delhi and 66 per cent in Noida.

In Gurugram, 93 per cent respondents said they "end up losing working hours or productivity" followed by 71 per cent in Delhi and 49 per cent in Noida, according to the survey.

The survey also tried to find if people faced increased wear and tear in their vehicles or were at a higher risk of accidents during the monsoon season due to waterlogging.

In Gurugram, 82 per cent respondents said they faced "vehicle wear and tear and related costs" while the figures for Delhi and Noida stood at 70 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively.

On "increased risk of accidents", 69 per cent respondents in Gurugram, 65 per cent in Delhi and 39 per cent in Noida believed the chances were higher than usual, according to the survey.

At the all-India level, 58 per cent of those surveyed said their districts get badly waterlogged. Eighty-four per cent of those impacted said it leads to them having to spend much more time in traffic while 68 per cent said it leads to increased vehicle wear and tear and related costs and higher risk of accidents.

Additionally, 54 per cent of those impacted said it leads to then losing working hours or productivity, according to the survey, which received over 22,000 responses from citizens in 293 districts. Sixty-nine per cent of the respondents were men while the rest were women.

LocalCircles founder Sachin Taparia said as much as India advocates fuel efficiency, it is clear that waterlogging on the streets works against the interests of citizens. They end up not only wasting time, energy and productivity, getting stuck in a traffic jam, in addition, results in fuel loss, faster wear and tear of vehicles and road infrastructure, accidents for the majority of the people.

"It is not just the private vehicles that get damaged but also public property when buses get partially or fully submerged in water… It is a sorry state of affairs that despite having a separate ministry of housing and urban affairs in the central government and states, boasting of urban planning and development departments, all the plans fail after a spell of rain and not necessarily a deluge or rainstorm," Taparia said.