Road cave-in yet again
For the second time in two weeks, a portion of the Kasturba Gandhi Marg near the Ferozshah Road crossing caved in on Sunday.
For the second time in two weeks, a portion of the Kasturba Gandhi Marg near the Ferozshah Road crossing caved in on Sunday.
There would be no respite from such problems on the same stretch of the road, as the officials from the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) - who blamed the trench-less digging for utilities taken up last year ahead of the Commonwealth Games - do not plan to work out a long-term solution till the rain stops.
Being a Sunday, there was not much load on the roads, but vehicular traffic was affected for some time. The portion was barricaded and the NDMC deployed its men and machinery and plugged the cave-in. The redressal of the problem ensured smooth flow of traffic.
The road - in fact the stretch - had had a three-feet crater last year in September, barely a week ahead of the Games. A similar incident happened in February this year too.
"The trench-less digging for various utilities has led to softening of the soil underneath the road surface. At times, it cannot withstand the pressure of the water and sinks in," said Anand Tiwari, NDMC spokesperson.
However, he refused to identify either the utility or the company that carried out the digging at this particular spot on Sunday. Trench-less digging had punctured several underground utilities - vis-à-vis power, water and sewerage - last year due to haphazard digging in the rush up to the Games in October 2010, resulting in repeated incidents of road cave-ins.
But is there no long-term solution? "We are planning to carry out a study and find out an engineering solution for the recurring problem.
But that would be done only after the monsoon is over," Tiwari added.