As per a tweet from District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar, Mahesh Kumar Verma, the submerged cars belong to a private cab company. The company had been cautioned beforehand to relocate the vehicles to a safer location, but unfortunately, no action was taken, resulting in this unfortunate outcome.
Now, the cab aggregator has officially issued a statement. The spokesperson from Ola said, “We have a valid lease agreement with Mahindra First Choice for a vehicle parking yard in Noida. Ola has not received any notice from the government authorities since the inception of our lease agreement in 2020. Any further queries may be directed to the lessor, Mahindra First Choice.”
Additionally, reports had surfaced indicating that Anil Yadav, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) in Noida, took proactive measures regarding the situation. He had issued two notices to Ola Cabs through the police administration, urging them to promptly remove their vehicles that were at high risk of flooding.
While the authorities and the company differ on whether the warning notice for the removal of cars was issued or not, it remains to be seen how and if Ola would be able to claim an insurance cover for the damaged vehicles. For the unversed, a drowned car is better scrapped than repaired, that’s because of the high costs involved in repairing damages caused by water.