Wednesday morning rain in Gurugram inundates key junctions

The worst affected areas were Subhash Chowk, Bakhtawar Singh Road and Golf Course Extension Road, which were knee deep in rainwater.

Three hours of rain on Wednesday morning left many areas of the city waterlogged. The worst affected areas were Subhash Chowk, Bakhtawar Singh Road, Golf Course Extension Road, sectors 31, 40, 41, 27, 28 and 50, which were knee deep in rainwater.

People push a car through a waterlogged street after heavy rains near Sector 32 in Gurugram on Wednesday. (Yogendra Kumar/HT Photo)

Gurugram received around 27mm of rain, according to the rain gauge at the district revenue department, between 7 and 10am. Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) spells have predicted more rain on Thursday as well, following which the skies are expected to clear up.

“There is a high possibility of rain on Thursday while on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there is a lower possibility. The skies will be clear Monday onwards,” an IMD official said.

This monsoon, three key junctions — Subhash Chowk, CH Bakhtawar Singh Road and Sector 28 — have been severely waterlogged following spells of rain. The situation was the same on Wednesday as well.

Each of these points has its own set of issues. Officials attributed waterlogging at Subhash Chowk to the narrowing of Badshahpur drain at Khandsa village.

Traffic movement at Subhash Chowk was also severely affected. “It took me 20 minutes to navigate my way through Subhash Chowk, as barring one small lane, all lanes were waist-deep in rainwater. From my car, I could see pedestrians struggling to cross the road. I also saw a sedan breakdown as rainwater had entered the car’s engine,” said Deepak Rungta, a resident of Sector 47.

Lalit Arora, superintending engineer, GMDA, said, “The drainage line at Subhash Chowk is connected to the Badshahpur drain and due to the drain’s poor capacity at Khandsa village, the rainwater backflows and floods Subhash Chowk. Before the next monsoon season, the drain work at Khandsa will be completed and the waterlogging issue will be resolved.”

On a 600-metre stretch, at Khandsa village, the breadth of the Badshahpur drain reduces from 30 metres to 10 metres and its carrying capacity drops to 500 cusecs from 1,750 cusecs.

On the issue at the CH Bakhtawar Singh Road, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) officials last month conceded that the underground drainage lines had been inadvertently blocked during the construction of the unidirectional underpass at Rajiv Chowk in 2017.

GMDA officials have been since trying to identify the drainage lines. The area was severely waterlogged, especially the three-kilometre carriageway of the CH Bakhtawar Singh Road from Rajiv Chowk to Bakhtawar Chowk.

Motorists were able to use only one lane of the three-lane carriageway, which resulted in snarls.

Around noon, four super suction machines were roped in to drain the rainwater. A crane was also deployed, as a precautionary measure, to move stranded vehicles.

“We have identified the drainage lines in the area and work on clearing them is undergoing,” said V Umashankar, CEO of GMDA.

Waterlogging in sectors 27 and 28 continued to be severe, as an eight-kilometre-long stormwater drain is yet to be constructed due to a land dispute over a 1,750 square yard plot.

“There was severe waterlogging in my locality and I had to carry an extra pair of clothes, as I got drenched due to the high level of accumulated rainwater. Until this drain is constructed, the situation will remain the same each monsoon,” Surinder Bisht, a resident of Sector 27, said.

In Sector 50, there was severe waterlogging along the two-kilometre Vikas Marg, while the service roads of sectors 40 and 41 service roads were also filled with rainwater.