Gurugram’s arterial stretches inundated after sudden rain catches city off guard

The Narsinghpur stretch of the National Highway-48 saw a 3-km-long traffic jam due to the waterlogging

Over four hours of rainfall on Wednesday brought traffic in Gurugram to a standstill as several areas of the city witnessed waterlogging with snarl ups being reported from key stretches and internal roads.

Vehicles wade through a waterlogged stretch on NH-48 near Narsinghpur village, in Gurugram on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The Narsinghpur stretch of the National Highway-48 saw a 3-km-long traffic jam due to the waterlogging. Congestion was also reported from Hero Honda Chowk, Old Delhi-Gurugram Road, Golf Course Extension Road and Subhash Chowk, as well as at various residential sectors due to the waterlogging.

According to district administration data, Gurugram received 33mm of rainfall till 8.30am on Wednesday. Officials said that along with internal roads, Narsinghpur Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk were the most affected. Vehicles were seen submerged in the water on the NH-48 stretch.

At the Narsinghpur-Khandsa stretch of NH-48, the service lane was completely submerged, and a carriageway was also inundated. Police and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) teams were present at key areas to remove excess water through pumps.

“There was waterlogging at various intersections including NH-48 which affected traffic at some places. We deployed teams from traffic and police stations to manage traffic at affected spots due to waterlogging. All the assistant commissioners of police (ACP), traffic inspectors (TI), zonal officers (ZO) and other staff of the traffic wing successfully managed the traffic,” said Virender Vij, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

Vij said that traffic remained disrupted due to waterlogging at Narsinghpur, Khandsa, Hero Honda Chowk and Subhash Chowk. “The traffic movement remained slow on these stretches in the morning,” he said.

PC Meena, GMDA chief executive officer (CEO), visited the affected spots along with a team and inspected the drainage and waterlogging conditions in areas such as Sector 15’s Part 2, near Ambience Mall, Vyapar Kendra Road, Subhash Chowk, Narsinghpur, Hero Honda Chowk and Vatika Chowk.

Meena took stock of the pumping machinery installed at Narsinghpur. “At present, five pumps of total 90 horsepower (HP) capacity have been installed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Narsinghpur. We are further augmenting the pumping capacity by 260 HP with addition of new pumps,” he said, adding that the pumps will be installed at the earliest.

Meena, who is also the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) commissioner, directed the civic body officials to install higher capacity pumps and bigger pipelines at Narsinghpur during the monsoon season.

“To prevent waterlogging on the service road of Sector 15’s Part 2 along the highway, teams have been instructed to deploy machinery to pump out the stormwater into the master stormwater drain along the opposite side of the highway,” he said.

Teams of MCG and GMDA were deployed to clear water chutes and road gullies at all waterlogged locations. “At certain locations, the water level gradually receded, and situation was normal by 11.30am. In areas where heavy waterlogging was reported, pumps and machinery were deployed to address the situation. All the underpasses were free of any water accumulation and safe for travelling,” said Vikram Singh, executive engineer of GMDA.

The waterlogging led to vehicles breaking down while commuters and pedestrians had to wade through knee-deep water in low-lying areas. Residents alleged that despite the pre-monsoon drain cleaning work, the city still witnesses waterlogging on many stretches of NH-48 as well as internal roads.

Arun Sirohi, a daily commuter from Sohna Road to Cyber City, said that situation was bad between 8am and 11am and commuters had started taking internal roads that led to traffic congestion. “The condition of road on Golf Course Extension Road needs attention and repair work. This is one of the prime roads and is most neglected,” he said.

Dheeraj Kumar, a crew member for a private airline, said that it took over half an hour to cross the stretch at Subhash Chowk from Khushboo Chowk around 10am. “All the major stretches were jampacked, so we decided to take internal roads. But we got stuck and it took almost 40 minutes to reach Sector 66,” he said.

Commuters alleged that despite civic agencies identifying problem spots, the situation during rains remains unchanged in Gurugram.

Meena said that as part of the flood preparedness initiatives taken last year, pondage areas were created along both sides of Ambience Mall to address any waterlogging concerns in the area. “The teams were directed that the pondage area is instrumental in storing rainwater and it must be ensured that these ponds are not refilled again with soil,” he said, adding that MCG teams have been directed to carry out cleaning work of choked drains and water chutes on priority. “We have outlined action plan that is to be taken against those found indulging in illegal dumping of construction and debris (C&D) waste on MCG land,” he said.

The GMDA CEO also visited the creek in Sector 43 and the Aravalli area and directed MCG officials to clear all debris and waste dumped in the creeks to allow free flow of storm water during the monsoon season.