Cave-in at Delhi’s Ashoka Road for 3rd time in 18 months
While the traffic police barricaded the stretch and issued an advisory, the area remained congested with a lane completely blocked for traffic
A three-foot wide portion of the C-Hexagon to Windsor Place carriageway of the key Ashoka Road caved in late on Thursday — for the third time in the last 18 months — leading to congestion the next morning and throwing out of gear the traffic movement in Lutyens Delhi throughout Friday, officers said.
While the traffic police barricaded the stretch and issued an advisory, the area remained congested with a lane completely blocked for traffic.
According to officials from New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), under which the area comes, all the cave ins including the ones in August this year and July last year, have been due to an old sewer line that passes under the Ashoka Road. This slows down the movement of traffic from Janpath, Ferozshah Road, Raisina Road besides Ashoka Road during peak commuting period, officials said.
On Friday, the caved-in portion was temporarily filled with soil, and official said that the repair work will start soon.
“We have barricaded the area keeping one lane cordoned off, so that some traffic movement happens. Meanwhile, we have also filled the caved in portion with soil and NDMC is expected to start repair work soon,” said a senior police official from New Delhi district.
On Friday morning, the Delhi traffic police issued an advisory on social media regarding the disturbance on Ashoka Road. “Traffic is affected on Ashoka road in the carriageway from C-Hexagon towards Windsor Place due to road cave-in near Windsor Place. Kindly plan your journey accordingly,” it posted on X.
Earlier in August, two sections of Ashoka Road caved in due to damage to the underground sewer lines that took over a month to be repaired. A large section of C-Hexagon near India Gate had also caved in near National Gallery of Modern Art last year in July leading to traffic disruptions for two days.
The sewer lines in Lutyens Delhi, according to officials familiar with the matter, are spread over 250 km area and many of them are 80-90 years old. NDMC officials said that over the decades, the corrosive gases from these sewer lines have peeled off the outer layers. “This leads to collapse or settlement every year during the monsoon season,” an NDMC official said.
Work on repairing these sewer lines is already underway in phased manner, the official said.