Panel to chart Gurugram’s flood plan

GMDA will form committee to delve into reasons behind Tuesday’s flooding and find a long-term solution.

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) will set up a five-member committee of civil engineers, environmentalists and experts from other fields to assess the faults that resulted in massive waterlogging in the city on Tuesday.

A spell of rain on Wednesday brought traffic to a crawl at Shankar Chowk.on National Highway-48. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Even on Wednesday, several parts of the city continued to reel under the debilitating impact of the flooding wrought by five hours of rain the day before.

The newly constructed underpasses at Hero Honda Chowk and near Medanta hospital were flooded and parts of MG Road, Sohna Road, Golf Course Extension Road, and internal sector roads were also water-logged for hours after the 128mm rainfall.

Lalit Arora, in-charge, water-sewer, as well as the superintending engineer of the GMDA, said that the panel will be formed soon and will comprise officials from GMDA, Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran , Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and independent experts as members.

“The proposal to set up a committee of experts from various streams to assess drainage faults and find a sustainable solution has been discussed. This proposal will be taken forward and given a final shape in a day or two. Heavy rainfall in the city over the last two days has kept us engaged in draining out water at Hero Honda Chowk, Khandsa and Subhash Chowk. This situation has emerged as a new challenge and we will have to chart out a plan to overcome it,” Arora said.

A raft of measures had been proposed in the wake of massive waterlogging in July 2016, which brought the city to its knees and resulted in a humongous traffic jam, dubbed the ‘Gurujam’, spanning 20 hours and stretching from Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway to the Delhi border.

V Umashankar, chief executive officer (CEO), GMDA, said, “We have to find out the reason for the waterlogging at the Hero Honda Chowk underpass. We need to hold talks with the NHAI and find a lasting solution.”