LI Network
Published on: 30 July, 2025 16:05 IST
A Mercedes owner from Ghaziabad has served a legal notice to the city’s municipal commissioner, demanding ₹5 lakh in compensation after his vehicle allegedly broke down due to waterlogging during heavy rains on the morning of July 23.
Amit Kishore, a resident of Sector 11 in Vasundhara, claimed that his Mercedes GLA 200D, purchased in 2018 for ₹60 lakh suffered a mechanical failure after being stranded in knee-deep water for nearly two hours on a waterlogged stretch in Lajpat Nagar, Sahibabad. Kishore said the vehicle stopped functioning while he was driving home around noon and had to be towed to a service centre in Noida. “It just wouldn’t start again. I had to arrange a crane to take it to the service centre, which has estimated the repair cost to be around ₹5 lakh,” he told to the media.
Kishore, who is also a social activist and a petitioner in several National Green Tribunal (NGT) cases seeking drain clearance and removal of encroachments in Vasundhara, alleged that the civic body’s negligence led to the incident.
The legal notice, served through Kishore’s lawyer, accuses the municipal corporation of failing to discharge its statutory duties under the Municipal Corporation Act, various public health laws, and environmental protection regulations. “Your failure to fulfil your statutory duties… as well as your breach of duty of care owed to the residents, makes you liable for financial, physical, and mental damages caused to my client and others similarly affected,” the notice states. It further warns that legal action will be initiated if the matter is not addressed within 15 days.
While the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has not yet issued an official response, Municipal Commissioner Vikramaditya Malik questioned the claim. “The applicant would have to prove that the car broke down due to waterlogging. On July 23, there was excessive rainfall across NCR, and IMD had issued alerts. Other vehicles were also on the same street- why didn’t they break down?”
Residents of the trans-Hindon region, however, have expressed support for Kishore. Roy Tapan Bharti, a longtime resident of Vasundhara’s Sector 16, said, “Waterlogging is a chronic issue in areas like Indirapuram, Vaishali, and Vasundhara. Drains remain clogged due to encroachments and delayed cleaning. Even when sanitation workers remove sludge, they leave it roadside, where it washes back in with the rains.”
As monsoon woes mount in the NCR, the case may set a precedent for civic accountability over urban infrastructure failures.