Agencies in race against time to get Gurugram monsoon-ready

Several works planned by GMDA, including digging of drains and desilting of stormwater drains, have been delayed due to untimely rains, officials said

With a sudden spell of rain inundating major stretches and roads of Gurugram on Wednesday, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will seek to expedite several major pre-monsoon works.

Vehicles stuck in traffic jam at NH-48 near Hero Honda Chowk, in Gurugram on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Several works planned by the authority, including digging of drains and desilting and cleaning of stormwater drains, have been delayed due to untimely rains this year, authority officials said. A number of these works are either ongoing or estimates have been prepared. If these are not executed by the time monsoon arrives — usually by end of July — Gurugram is likely to face similar waterlogging issues through the monsoon.

A senior GMDA official said that Gurugram has around 150km of master drains and around 75% of desilting work on these drains has been completed. “The desilting work got disturbed due to such random rains. The drains which were blocked temporarily had to be opened again to ensure excess water flows off,” he said.

The GMDA has also deployed separate team to ensure that any waterlogging or drain related issues are dealt with. “We work around the year to ensure drains are desilted and the target is to ensure that work is generally completed by May 15,” he said.

The official also said that the drains in the city witness heavy silting as construction waste often gets diverted to these drains

He further said that the master drains in the city are large, and around 60-70m can be cleared every day using heavy machinery. “The work is carried out throughout the year, but it got disrupted during the last three to four months. The waterlogging at Narsinghpur on National Highway-48 on Wednesday happened due to untimely rain. However, we have changed strategy and pumps of heavier capacity were deployed immediately to avoid any recurrence of this problem,” he said.