Mercedes Damaged On Flooded Road, Ghaziabad Man Demands Rs 5 Lakh From Civic Body

News18

30-07-2025

Last Updated:
In addition to financial compensation, the notice also demanded urgent corrective measures, including the cleaning and restoration of drainage systems in Vasundhara
A luxury car stuck in rainwater has snowballed into a legal and public relations battle in Ghaziabad, with a local businessman accusing the Municipal Corporation of gross negligence, and the civic body firing back with allegations of its own.
Amit Kishore, a resident of Vasundhara Sector-11, has sent a legal notice to the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation seeking over Rs 5 lakh in damages, alleging that his Mercedes-Benz GLA 200d was extensively damaged after being submerged in logged water on July 23. The incident, which he says resulted from the civic body's 'inaction and mismanagement", has triggered a fierce back-and-forth.
Kishore's luxury car, according to the legal notice, stalled in rising floodwaters as he was driving home from Lajpat Nagar via Sahibabad. The vehicle had to be hauled out by a crane and towed to a service centre in Noida. The cost of repairs, he claimed, touched Rs 5 lakh. But beyond compensation for damages, Kishore is also demanding an additional Rs 5 lakh for 'mental agony and harassment".
'The water logging was so extensive that vehicular movement became impossible and my client's car remained stranded, leading to mechanical and electrical damages," read the notice issued through Kishore's lawyer Prem Prakash.
In addition to financial compensation, the notice also demanded urgent corrective measures, including the cleaning and restoration of drainage systems in Vasundhara and nearby localities. The civic body has been given 15 days to respond in writing, failing which legal proceedings would be initiated.
Kishore alleged that the flooding stemmed from 'blocked drainage systems, uncleaned nullahs, and unchecked illegal encroachments", all of which, he said, lie squarely under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation. The notice even referred to directives by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to remove encroachments from drains, directions which Kishore claims have been blatantly ignored.
'There is explicit and credible information that your office has deliberately failed to act against illegal encroachments that obstruct drain outlets, and in some instances, municipal officials have even facilitated or protected such encroachments, directly violating the law and public trust," the notice stated.
But the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation hasn't taken the accusations lightly.
In a strongly worded response, the civic body dismissed Kishore's claims and launched a counterattack, describing him as a 'professional complainant" and accusing him of 'trying to tarnish the image of the corporation for personal reasons".
In its official statement, the corporation said, 'The photo of the vehicle shown by Amit Kishore in his complaint, which had a Delhi number, clearly showed that there was no water even on the tyres. It has not been certified by any expert that the vehicle was broken down due to rainwater logging. No other such case has been reported in the city."
Officials also defended their flood preparedness, citing 'record rainfall", 'timely cleaning of drains", 'drone-based monitoring", and the use of pump sets to prevent urban flooding.
But Kishore insists the administration is twisting facts to escape responsibility.
'Calling me a professional complainant is deeply unfortunate," he said in a statement, adding, 'It shows that when a common citizen raises genuine questions, public institutions respond with slander instead of accountability."
On the issue of the vehicle's Delhi registration, Kishore asked, 'If the vehicle has a Delhi number, can't it run in Ghaziabad? This is an attempt to divert attention from the real issue."
He also countered the Corporation's claim about water levels, asserting that the car was indeed submerged high enough for water to enter the engine. 'The claim that even the tyre of the vehicle was not in water is completely wrong. At the time when the vehicle stopped, the water level was continuously rising and water had entered the engine. This has also been confirmed by the authorised service centre in the report," he said.
'Should every citizen now bring a technical expert's report with their complaint?" Kishore asked, adding that this isn't the first time the city has faced severe waterlogging. He pointed to several other instances of waterlogging in the city, flagged repeatedly on social media and by local outlets in recent weeks. He also dismissed the Corporation's claim of drone monitoring as hollow, saying, 'If monitoring was really happening, why are vehicles getting stranded on waterlogged roads?"
Kishore concluded by saying he was exercising his constitutional rights and warned that if the civic body failed to respond responsibly, he would pursue the matter through legal channels.
First Published:
July 30, 2025, 14:28 IST
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