Repairs begin at Sohna elevated road cave-in

Repair work has begun on a sinkhole that appeared on the Sohna elevated road in Gurugram. The sinkhole was caused by a collapsed sewage drain. It will take several days to fix.

Repair work has started on a sinkhole that appeared on one of the carriageways of the Sohna elevated road, and authorities in Gurugram and the contractor who built the road indicated that it would take several days to be fixed.

Repair works underway on the Gurugram-Sohna elevated road on Monday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The sinkhole — a hole in the ground caused by a collapse of the surface layer of the road— was caused by a sewage drain caving in on Sunday morning, traffic police officers and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said.

Though the sinkhole was only 2ft x 2ft in size, around 40 square feet around it got depressed and became unfit for traffic. Since it was not possible to access the affected area for repairs, a large crater was dug around it, the officials explained.

The spot -- about one kilometre from the Subash Chowk on the carriageway from Gurugram towards Sohna -- has been cordoned off and two of the four lanes of the highway have been barricaded to prevent accidents.

“We have started the repairs, and we will ensure this does not happen again. GMDA has decided to inspect the entire affected drain. Once it is repaired, we will repair the damaged portion of the road,” said JP Gupta, project director of Oriental Engineering company, the highway contractor of the Sohna elevated road project.

The repairs are likely to take a few days because the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) authority will have to block water flow and dewater the master sewer line that passes under the highway. The first task, a GMDA official explained, is to find out what happened to the chamber that got damaged, causing the cave-in.

The contractor said they have deployed an excavator, two earthmoving machines, and labourers who are working with GMDA officials and a technical team to repair the drain and the sinkhole.

“We were told by GMDA officials that they will build walls in the pipeline to block two chambers, one before the affected chamber and one after it. After stopping the water flow, the entire drain will be dewatered and then the technical team will inspect it to find out the reason why it caved in,” said an executive of the contractor, who asked not to be named.

Sujan Singh, a subdivisional engineer at GMDA, said that the workers will block the drain at two points before stopping the water flow instead of digging randomly and then stopping the water flow.

“Digging the road will not help. We will remove the water and then investigate the damage to do the repairs properly,” Singh said.

According to GMDA officials, the drain brings sewage from a large area along Sohna Road and Golf Course Extension Road. “The drain is at a depth of 15 feet. After repairs, we will strengthen it to ensure it does not cave in again,” said Rajesh Bansal, chief engineer of GMDA.

There are four manholes along the drain under Sohna Road, and GMDA has said it will strengthen all of them to ensure none of them caves in, Bansal added.