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Time of India
08-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Crumbling roads to overflowing drains: What ails Ghaziabad's Makanpur and Kala Patthar road
1 2 3 4 5 Ghaziabad: Monsoon 's arrival has turned the yearlong mess on both sides of Kala Patthar Road, the central artery of Indirapuram that connects the trans-Hindon township with NH-9 and Delhi-Meerut Expressway, into an unmanageable reality for the thousands who use it every day. And seemingly for the police and corporation, too, with neither able to come up with a solution that streamlines traffic and put an end to the civic mess that people of Makanpur village on one side and families living in housing societies in Ahimsa Khand-1 and Vaibhav Khand on the other have had to put up with month after month, year after year. In the last three years, two big administrative reforms have taken place, the formation of the police commissionerate and the handover of Indirapuram, which used to be under GDA, to the corporation. But the change appears to have bypassed residents of Indirapuram, which has seen little reprieve from traffic unruliness and civic lapses. You Can Also Check: Noida AQI | Weather in Noida | Bank Holidays in Noida | Public Holidays in Noida On both sides, Kala Patthar Road has enough width to accommodate utilities like a footpath and regulated parking areas for vehicles. But the roadsides are broken, uneven and encroached either by vehicles or by food carts. As a result, the pedestrians and vehicles are locked in a daylong jostle for space past a maze of haphazardly parked cars, people crowding around stalls, autos and e-rickshaws picking up and dropping off passengers and two-wheelers darting to and from every direction, never mind the direction of the traffic. "It's like there are no rules here. There are two traffic signals at the Gaur mall and Aditya mall crossings, but no one bothers to even look at them. Vehicles are merrily driving on the wrong side all the way to NH-9 and even on it. They are coming from all directions. It's a driving nightmare. Have I ever seen police doing something about it? No. Have I ever seen the roadsides getting cleared? No," says Smita, resident of a housing society in the area who travels to Delhi for work every day. Kala Patthar road is also the main shopping centre for trans-Hindon. Shops selling everything from sofa covers to light bulbs and shoes line the Makanpur side of the road along its length from the NH-9 service lane to Mangal Bazar Chowk. On the opposite side, furniture shops and food vendors have made the roadside their own. Around the L-shaped Aditya mall, congestion is at its worst because of mall visitors parking on the roadside rather than in the designated basement area. Food vendors form the second layer of encroachers, spilling onto the road. The result is a daylong gridlock. So, on this road that is always teeming with people, the shoulders and half the road space get flooded every time it rains. The only option to walk this leaves people with is through traffic, risking accidents. Then there are thousands of locals who waste time navigating jams every day despite being right next to an expressway. "It takes me as long to drive past Makanpur and Khoda to get to the main Delhi-Meerut Expressway as it does to get from there to Sarai Kale Khan," a Vaibhav Khand resident who works with a Gurgaon-based company said. The mess on Kala Patthar road, he added, makes him regret the decision of buying a house in the area, "which is otherwise very nice to live in". Asked about the traffic situation on Kala Patthar Road and what steps police have taken, ACP traffic Ziauddin Ahmad said neither of the two signals on Kala Patthar Road has been working for the last couple of days. "We have informed the corporation. It will be repaired soon. We will deploy a traffic team at the place to stop wrong-side driving," he said. Inside Makanpur village, from which Indirapuram township was carved out in the 90s, the mess gets much worse, a stark contrast to the manicured compounds of the highrises that have come up around it. A pond inside the village reeks of filth. Littered with trash and barricaded by an uprooted fence, children gather by it to go cycling or fly kites. The narrow lanes leading up to it are littered with sludge dug out from choked drains. The sludge is everywhere, on village lanes and along the main road. Madan Pal Tyagi, a local resident, told TOI, "The lanes will be inundated with at least three feet of wastewater, and to reach here, you will have to wade through filth. This is an annual feature, just wait for a few days when it starts raining heavily. One may choose to overlook it as a problem limited to Makanpur, but residents living in multi-crore highrise apartments in Indirapuram, just 100 metres from here, also feel the pinch of civic apathy. The wastewater flows down to Kala Patthar Road, triggering traffic jams." According to a GDA official, Indirapuram has a massive drainage system, approximately 135km long. However, the circumference of the pipeline is narrow and it cannot handle the volume of wastewater generated in the area, leading to flooding on the roads. "Topography is also a factor behind this because the gradient of the township is towards the east, towards Hindon river, and due to the uneven nature of land here, water does not flow out smoothly. Funds alone will not solve the issue as it requires technical expertise and good leadership," the official said. Previously, the township used to be under a single ward, Makanpur. After delimitation, it was divided into seven wards in 2016. Over the years, Makanpur, which has a population of 40,000, came to constitute ward number 57 of GMC. Radhey Shyam Tyagi, councillor of ward 57, says, "Very soon, we will work to improve the situation, but it would be unfair to say that the situation in Makanpur has not improved. Today, every lane of the village has interlocking tiles. " "For GDA," adds Tyagi, "Makanpur was at the bottom of its priority list as it focused more on Indirapuram township. So, there was virtually no civic agency to take care of Makanpur. After it became part of one of GMC's wards, things did improve, but marginally. Now that the handover of Makanpur, along with Indirapuram, has taken place, and GMC has received considerable funds from GDA as part of the handover deal, I can assure you the situation is going to change drastically. " Mayor Sunita Dayal told TOI Makanpur's development is "interlinked with Indirapuram's". "Apart from the sewer and drain problem, encroachment is a big issue. We are in the process of creating a designated vending zone, which will take care of the problem of encroachment. Since the civic issue is a major legacy problem, we will have to draw up a plan to improve the situation, which we will take up in due course."
Time of India
08-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Crumbling roads to overflowing drains: What ails Indirapuram's underbelly
Ghaziabad: Monsoon 's arrival has turned the yearlong mess on both sides of Kala Patthar Road, the central artery of Indirapuram that connects the trans-Hindon township with NH-9 and Delhi-Meerut Expressway, into an unmanageable reality for the thousands who use it every day. And seemingly for the police and corporation, too, with neither able to come up with a solution that streamlines traffic and put an end to the civic mess that people of Makanpur village on one side and families living in housing societies in Ahimsa Khand-1 and Vaibhav Khand on the other have had to put up with month after month, year after year. In the last three years, two big administrative reforms have taken place, the formation of the police commissionerate and the handover of Indirapuram, which used to be under GDA, to the corporation. But the change appears to have bypassed residents of Indirapuram, which has seen little reprieve from traffic unruliness and civic lapses. You Can Also Check: Noida AQI | Weather in Noida | Bank Holidays in Noida | Public Holidays in Noida On both sides, Kala Patthar Road has enough width to accommodate utilities like a footpath and regulated parking areas for vehicles. But the roadsides are broken, uneven and encroached either by vehicles or by food carts. As a result, the pedestrians and vehicles are locked in a daylong jostle for space past a maze of haphazardly parked cars, people crowding around stalls, autos and e-rickshaws picking up and dropping off passengers and two-wheelers darting to and from every direction, never mind the direction of the traffic. "It's like there are no rules here. There are two traffic signals at the Gaur mall and Aditya mall crossings, but no one bothers to even look at them. Vehicles are merrily driving on the wrong side all the way to NH-9 and even on it. They are coming from all directions. It's a driving nightmare. Have I ever seen police doing something about it? No. Have I ever seen the roadsides getting cleared? No," says Smita, resident of a housing society in the area who travels to Delhi for work every day. Kala Patthar road is also the main shopping centre for trans-Hindon. Shops selling everything from sofa covers to light bulbs and shoes line the Makanpur side of the road along its length from the NH-9 service lane to Mangal Bazar Chowk. On the opposite side, furniture shops and food vendors have made the roadside their own. Around the L-shaped Aditya mall, congestion is at its worst because of mall visitors parking on the roadside rather than in the designated basement area. Food vendors form the second layer of encroachers, spilling onto the road. The result is a daylong gridlock. So, on this road that is always teeming with people, the shoulders and half the road space get flooded every time it rains. The only option to walk this leaves people with is through traffic, risking accidents. Then there are thousands of locals who waste time navigating jams every day despite being right next to an expressway. "It takes me as long to drive past Makanpur and Khoda to get to the main Delhi-Meerut Expressway as it does to get from there to Sarai Kale Khan," a Vaibhav Khand resident who works with a Gurgaon-based company said. The mess on Kala Patthar road, he added, makes him regret the decision of buying a house in the area, "which is otherwise very nice to live in". Asked about the traffic situation on Kala Patthar Road and what steps police have taken, ACP traffic Ziauddin Ahmad said neither of the two signals on Kala Patthar Road has been working for the last couple of days. "We have informed the corporation. It will be repaired soon. We will deploy a traffic team at the place to stop wrong-side driving," he said. Inside Makanpur village, from which Indirapuram township was carved out in the 90s, the mess gets much worse, a stark contrast to the manicured compounds of the highrises that have come up around it. A pond inside the village reeks of filth. Littered with trash and barricaded by an uprooted fence, children gather by it to go cycling or fly kites. The narrow lanes leading up to it are littered with sludge dug out from choked drains. The sludge is everywhere, on village lanes and along the main road. Madan Pal Tyagi, a local resident, told TOI, "The lanes will be inundated with at least three feet of wastewater, and to reach here, you will have to wade through filth. This is an annual feature, just wait for a few days when it starts raining heavily. One may choose to overlook it as a problem limited to Makanpur, but residents living in multi-crore highrise apartments in Indirapuram, just 100 metres from here, also feel the pinch of civic apathy. The wastewater flows down to Kala Patthar Road, triggering traffic jams." According to a GDA official, Indirapuram has a massive drainage system, approximately 135km long. However, the circumference of the pipeline is narrow and it cannot handle the volume of wastewater generated in the area, leading to flooding on the roads. "Topography is also a factor behind this because the gradient of the township is towards the east, towards Hindon river, and due to the uneven nature of land here, water does not flow out smoothly. Funds alone will not solve the issue as it requires technical expertise and good leadership," the official said. Previously, the township used to be under a single ward, Makanpur. After delimitation, it was divided into seven wards in 2016. Over the years, Makanpur, which has a population of 40,000, came to constitute ward number 57 of GMC. Radhey Shyam Tyagi, councillor of ward 57, says, "Very soon, we will work to improve the situation, but it would be unfair to say that the situation in Makanpur has not improved. Today, every lane of the village has interlocking tiles. " "For GDA," adds Tyagi, "Makanpur was at the bottom of its priority list as it focused more on Indirapuram township. So, there was virtually no civic agency to take care of Makanpur. After it became part of one of GMC's wards, things did improve, but marginally. Now that the handover of Makanpur, along with Indirapuram, has taken place, and GMC has received considerable funds from GDA as part of the handover deal, I can assure you the situation is going to change drastically. " Mayor Sunita Dayal told TOI Makanpur's development is "interlinked with Indirapuram's". "Apart from the sewer and drain problem, encroachment is a big issue. We are in the process of creating a designated vending zone, which will take care of the problem of encroachment. Since the civic issue is a major legacy problem, we will have to draw up a plan to improve the situation, which we will take up in due course."
India.com
05-07-2025
- Politics
- India.com
IAS Smita Sabharwal's class 12th marksheet goes viral, she scored highest marks in..., got grade A in..., her pass percentage was...
There is a growing interest in India's civil services, such as IAS, IPS, and IFS. These jobs were once viewed as merely government jobs, but they are now celebrated symbols of power, prestige, and purpose. The Civil Services Examination (CSE) has been conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in India since 1926 and is considered one of the toughest exams in India. The exam serves as the gateway to top government positions like IAS, IPS, IFS, and more, attracting thousands of aspirants every year. There are several civil servants who have gained recognition as well as respect for their work and contributions. One such officer is IAS Smita Sabharwal. Dubbed the 'People's Officer', this designation came to Smita not just because of her transparent administration, effective governance, and people-friendly schemes, but she strategically leveraged technology and social media to offer changes and innovations to create efficiencies for public service. Smita cracked the 2000 UPSC CSE examination at 23 and obtained an All India Rank(AIR) of 4 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination. If media reports are to be believed, Smita cracked the UPSC exam in her second attempt. While her educational qualification is concerned, Smita Sabharwal completed her schooling at St. Ann's High School in Secunderabad, Telangana. In 1995, she took her Class 12th Examination under the Indian School Certificate (ISC) board through Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), New Delhi, receiving a Grade A in SUPW & Community Service. Her subjects were English, Hindi, Economics, Structure of Commerce, and Principles of Accounts – a varied and titaniacally engineered mix that helped to lay the foundations from which she would go on to succeed in the civil services.
Time of India
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
When Raj Babbar opened up on painful moments after Smita Patil's demise: ‘Never had enough time to plan things for Prateik'
Actors and 's love story was far from straightforward. It was an emotional maze, filled with intense feelings, unspoken worries, and moments of tender togetherness. Their relationship began on the sets of 'Bheegi Palkein', where Raj, who was already married to theatre actor Babbar, found himself drawn to Smita's fearless nature and striking individuality. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Their bond quickly became the talk of the industry. Smita was known for her powerful performances in films like 'Manthan', 'Arth' and 'Mirch Masala', and her deep-rooted commitment to meaningful cinema. Raj, meanwhile, balanced his theatre pursuits with mainstream films, and was seen as someone who lived life with passion. Together, they shared a connection that was intense, complicated, and yet beautifully human. 'I wish she were around to see her son growing' In 1986, Raj and Smita welcomed their son Prateik. For a while, it seemed like their family was finally taking shape. But life had other plans. Just days after Prateik was born, Smita passed away due to post-partum complications. Raj once opened up about this painful time while talking to Looking back at their short time as parents, he shared, 'She was a great human being. We never had enough time to plan things for our son Prateik. I guess he will be doing films shortly. He is already getting calls from various producers and directors. I have given him a free hand to do that. I wish she were around to see her son growing.' An evening that changed everything Raj also recalled the evening when everything turned upside down. He said, 'The most painful moments of life are those which come unexpected. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now One fine evening, when I was getting ready to go for a function I saw her quivering. I touched her and found that she had a fever. I called the doctor and he told me that she needs immediate hospitalisation. I took her to hospital and she was being removed to the intensive care unit.' It all happened so suddenly, 'Thoughout the journey from home to hospital, she kept apologising and I told her that everything would be okay. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. Her look said it all. The doctor came out after an hour and said she had gone into a coma.' Memories that never fade Even though years have passed, Raj has never forgotten Smita. In fact, her memories still live on in him every single day. He spoke from the heart when he said, 'I was part of her and she was part of me. It is natural that you miss a person who was your heart and soul throughout your life, no matter how brave you may say you are. She and her memories will continue to be part of me till my last day.'
Indian Express
28-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Hidden Stories: How Pune nurtured the ‘parachute woman of India'
When India announced the launch of Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, Pune-based Smita Yeole was out of the country. What she saw stirred her in a deeply personal way, for Smita was in the business of manufacturing a product closely linked to war: parachutes. Since 2004, Mumbai-based Oriental Weaving and Processing Mills, which was founded by Smita's late father, Vishwanath Chalke, has been making parachutes that are used for dropping flares, bombs, drones, cargo, missiles, and humans from aircraft. 'There are hundreds of varieties of parachutes,' says Smita, the managing director of the company, adding that there are underwater parachutes and parachutes that drop 16,000 kg tanks from an aircraft in high-altitude regions such as Leh. Oriental supplies parachutes to the armed forces, and in 2009-10, it became the first private Indian company to export parachutes internationally. While the company manufactures more than 50 products, there is no website listing these. 'I cannot disclose details because these are customer-specific and related to a country's defence. I have a lot of customers who are against each other, so I cannot share one person's matter with another,' she says. The entrepreneur supplies parachutes to the Israelis and the UK, among others. Smita lives in a ground-floor apartment full of comfortable furniture and artefacts from around the world. The drawing room looks out at a converted outdoor dining space, and the sounds of the kitchen meander through conversations. As Smita talks about enjoying cooking and gardening, the domestic everydayness is a striking contrast to the high-action life-and-death scenarios in which she has made her mark. A Mumbai girl, Smita, who calls herself a 'textile person', had worked in a few companies before joining her father's business. 'I started at the bottom of the ladder,' she says. In 1988, Smita had an arranged marriage with Ajay Yeole, a metallurgist and gold medal-winning College of Engineering, Pune, alumnus, who worked at Tata Motors and came to Pune. 'For one year, I was sitting at home and doing nothing. I told my husband, 'Boss, I cannot stay at home like this. You better do something or I will have to keep shuffling between Bombay and Pune',' she recalls. Ajay took it upon himself to start a small aluminium foundry in Uttam Nagar in 1990. While helping him, Smita learned the foundry business from the workers, the consultants and the day-to-day working. By 1997-98, it became the top aluminium foundry in Pune. Smita brought the same attitude to her father's business in 1999-2000. Blessed with a hands-on husband and supportive mother-in-law who took care of their two sons, she began to shuttle between Mumbai and Pune. 'I spent Mondays, Tuesdays, half of Wednesdays, and half of Fridays working with my husband at the foundry. Thursdays used to be for my father's textile business in Mumbai. On Saturdays and Sundays, I used to be at home,' she says. Smita's father had pioneered making parachute fabric in India in the 1970s, after the India-Pakistan war. 'India was importing those fabrics, and my dad indigenised these,' she says. She was visiting the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment in Agra with him when a director told her, 'You have made this fabric. Why don't you stitch it up for me?' This was the first time that a defence lab was asking somebody outside the lab, or a non-defence production company, to make parachutes. Smita, who read drawings like a book because of her foundry experience, took up the task. The initial challenges included finding tailors to gaining knowledge. Besides fabric and cords, a parachute needs tapes, cotton yarn, webbing and metal parts that are sourced from all over India. All components have to be sent for testing to the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies before they are applied to the product. Gradually, the company established vendors and pipelines and fine-tuned its systems. Today, the company operates out of three locations – Gujarat, where the thread is woven; Mumbai, where the fabric is processed with a centralised lab and head office; and Agra, where the parachute fabrication is done. 'We bagged orders one after the other. I have taken transfer of technology for the SU-30, i.e. the Sukhoi aircraft, the LCA aircraft, the Hawk and the MiG, among others. I make all these parachutes for the defence. Earlier, I used to supply only to India, now I supply globally,' she says. Smita regularly attends exhibitions abroad, meets people, learns and incorporates the developments in her work. Once, former Union minister Smriti Irani had referred to Smita as the Indian woman manufacturing parachutes. Yet, at meetings with suppliers in India, she says, she often meets people who want to 'speak to Mr Yeole'. Smita, who is also the vice-president of the prestigious Independence-era organisation, The Synthetic and Art Silk Mills Research Association, which is linked to the Ministry of Textiles, is optimistic about the future. 'Earlier, parachute fabric was made on an ordinary loom; now, it is made on water jet looms. The quality has improved manifold,' she says. AI has also made it 'easy to assimilate data', she adds. 'An abiding challenge is the availability of the yarn for making the fabric. It is all imported. When India becomes self-sufficient in that, the country will be on solid ground,' says Smita. Ironically, Smita has never used a parachute herself. 'Maybe…one day I have to do it. It is on my bucket list,' she says. Dipanita Nath is interested in the climate crisis and sustainability. She has written extensively on social trends, heritage, theatre and startups. She has worked with major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Times of India and Mint. ... Read More
