May deadline set for monsoon preparedness at eight key roads

The city’s civic agencies have shortlisted eight key stretches for executing monsoon preparedness measures and have set a deadline of May 31 for completion of the work

The city’s civic agencies have shortlisted eight key stretches for executing monsoon preparedness measures and have set a deadline of May 31 for completion of the work.

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The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will be laying new drains, repairing or widening stormwater drains along CH Bakhtawar Singh Road, the stretch from St Thomas Marg to Ghata T-point, Central Peripheral Road, Old Railway Road, Sheetla Mata Road, Bajgehra Road, Jwala Mill Road and Khandsa stretch on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Following massive flooding of the city and seven underpasses on August 19 and 20 in 2019, the MCG, GMDA, district administration and traffic police, in a meeting a week later, had decided to formulate an action plan to prevent a repeat of the incident.

As per the joint action plan of the civic agencies, preparedness measures at the eight key roads have been listed as a priority, besides construction of check dams in the Aravallis, ahead of the next monsoon.

To resolve waterlogging issues on the CH Bakhtawar Singh Road, located next to the Medanta underpass, a new stormwater line would be set up by the agencies. The original drainage lines were covered during the construction of the underpass in 2017 and GMDA officials are yet to identify them. Hence, instead, they have now opted to lay a new stormwater drain along the stretch between Rajiv Chowk and Bakhtawar Chowk.

To resolve waterlogging related issues in DLF Phase-4, sectors 43, 54 and 56, the open stormwater drain running between St Thomas Marg and Ghata T-point, along the Chakkarpur Bundh, will be de-silted and cleaned. “The entire open drain will be levelled. At certain points, the drain is elevated, while at some points, it is at a depression due to which the flow of rainwater gets hampered. In addition, we will also be linking the drain to the master stormwater drains in DLF Phase 4, by constructing a new 200-metre pipeline. This way, the carrying capacity of the drains will also increase and waterlogging issues will be addressed,” a senior GMDA official said.

To resolve issues on other stretches, officials have decided to construct stormwater drains along the entire length of the CPR, lay a new drain along Old Railway Road and Bajgehra Road, and clean the entire leg of the master stormwater drains along the Sheetla Mata Road, besides identifying points where repairs are needed.

Officials have also identified Jwala Mill Road as a stretche where extensive monsoon preparedness measures need to be executed. However, they are yet to finalise an action plan for the stretch.

The MCG has also decided to build a 2.5-kilometre stormwater line to link the drainage lines of the service lanes along the expressway at Narsinghpur to the Badshahpur drain, which is located nearby.

“Overall, 19 points have been identified by the GMDA and the MCG where action needs to be taken. Most of these points are located near residential areas while the eight are major stretches. The departments concerned have been allocated duties and directed to complete them before May 31 at any cost, to avoid flooding,” said Pradeep Kumar, chief engineer, GMDA.