NHAI asks contractor to remove water from submerged Rajiv Chowk underpass

The highway and urban authorities blame each other for rain water flooding the newly built structure

To prevent weakening of the newly built structure at Rajiv chowk underpass, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has asked the contractor to urgently dewater the non-motorised traffic tunnel and underpass that were submerged due to rain on Friday morning.

The National Highways Authority of India will install heavy-duty pumps to remove rain and sewer water from the Rajiv Chowk underpass under construction in Gurgaon. (Parveen Kumar/ HT Photo)

The highway authority, however, alleged that the flooding was not due to the rain, but was caused by a faulty interconnection of the sewerage and storm water pipeline at Subhash Chowk.

However, Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) officials stood their ground while admitting a slight delay by the engineering wing officials in allowing the discharge of water in the storm water drain. The authority said the problem was caused because NHAI contractor had failed to lay around 500 metres of storm water pipeline uprooted for construction work.

According to NHAI officials, millions of gallons of sewage and storm water flowed in the reverse direction because a large sewerage pipe was blocked by Huda’s engineering wing to clean the Badshahpur and adjoining drains, and also to carry out work for construction of a sump downstream.

“What saved the situation on Friday was, the entire water got collected at Tau Devi Lal stadium. Almost three-four feet of dirty water submerged the stadium and also the entire structure at Rajiv chowk,” said Ashok Sharma, project director, Delhi Gurgaon Expressway.

Due to flooding of the underpass, some stretches of the road along the wall of the structure caved in on Friday morning. However, after a timely warning by the police officials, the contractor took precautionary measures at the Chowk, which prevented further caving.

The underpass at Rajiv Chowk is five-and-a-half metres high, and the two lanes that are submerged are almost 400 metres long.

“The blockage of the sewage pipe at Subhash Chowk was removed early on Friday and this helped in dewatering the stadium. Now, we have decided to install heavy duty pumps at remove this water, but it will delay construction work,” Sharma said.

According to Huda administrator Yashpal Yadav, the urban authority is cleaning the drains towards Subhash Chowk and on Sohna road, and there are some parts that are blocked. “There was a slight delay, but the blockage has been removed. The NHAI has agreed to lay storm water lines within next few days, which will ensure that there is no flooding at this place,” he said.

Yadav also assured that while there could be a small amount of waterlogging for a few hours in the city, there would be no repeat of last year’s gridlock.