Govt to decide on Badshahpur drain expansion

The Haryana government will soon take a decision on expanding Badshahpur drain, which has proved to be Gurgaon’s Achilles Heel this monsoon.

The Haryana government will soon take a decision on expanding Badshahpur drain, which has proved to be Gurgaon’s Achilles Heel this monsoon.

Vehicles were stuck on the Gurgaon Expressway from July 28-30 due to waterlogging. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Additional chief secretary of Town and Country Planning (TCP), P Raghavendra Rao, on Friday said that a meeting under the chief minister will be held soon to decide upon the best course of action of the three possibilities suggested by Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) and Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG).

Badshahpur drain is one of the biggest stormwater drains in Gurgaon but it is encroached upon at several places, from Badshahpur to Hero Honda Chowk, Khandsa and towards Najafgarh drain. On July 28, the entire Gurgaon Expressway was paralysed for more than 18 hours due to waterlogging caused by the overflowing drain.

The first plan proposed is to convert the drain into a box-type drain and squeeze it through the national highway, Huda administrator Yashpal Yadav said.

The second plan involves construction of a 900-meter U-shape drain towards Jaipur, taking it across the highway at a 90 degree angle for 500 metres, before moving it right, towards Delhi and connecting it with Badshahpur drain.

Another proposal is to build an additional drain along the Southern Peripheral Road and connect it with the Badshahpur drain near Northern Peripheral Road. However, Huda will have to acquire land from the state infrastructure development corporation (HSIIDC) and industries located in Sector 34 for the purpose.

Huda also plans to utilise the 33-foot wide space available to the authority in Khandsa village to redirect water from Badshahpur chowk. “We want to ensure maximum utilisation of the land available to us. We will enhance its capacity here as well,” Yadav said.

“We have received three proposals from the district administration and these are being analysed. A meeting will soon be called by the CM to take the final decision in this regard,” Rao said.

He said that there shall be no resource constraints in resolving the problem. As far as encroachments along the Badshahpur drain are concerned, Rao said that appropriate action that is necessary to expand the drain will be taken once the plan is decided.