MCG identifies 46 spots prone to waterlogging, to deploy suction tankers, pumps

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has compiled a report, identifying 46 vulnerable spots in the city, where the civic body will be deploying suction tankers,

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has compiled a report, identifying 46 vulnerable spots in the city, where the civic body will be deploying suction tankers, tractor-mounted pumps to minimise the impact of waterlogging. The report is based on ground-level observations by its executive engineers from some of these areas that witnessed heavy flooding following rain on Wednesday.

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Earlier, prior to the start of the monsoon, officials of the district administration, MCG, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the Gurugram Police had identified 35 vulnerable spots in the city, which were brought under round-the-clock surveillance via installation of CCTV cameras and deployment of teams of MCG and GMDA officials.

The 35 points are located in some major road stretches, where waterlogging can have an impact on the traffic movement. The new list, however, mostly comprises arterial stretches in the city. A comparison of the two lists reveals that only Vatika Chowk and Narsinghpur are common to both.

The 46 newly identified spots are located in areas such as sectors 9, 52, 21,24, 26, 10, 4, 46, 39, 27 and 55, Vatika Chowk, Annath Road, Ghata, Signature Tower Road, Khandsa market, Narsinghpur, Cyber Park, South City-1, Sohna Chowk, Basai Road, and Kanhai.

On Wednesday, the city received 22mm of rainfall, leaving most parts heavily waterlogged. Barring a minor 15-minute drizzle in some parts of the city in the evening, it stopped raining around 11.30am in most other parts. However, the extent of the waterlogging was such that it took officials until 6pm to clear the roads of rainwater. Wednesday’s waterlogging also affected the public transport, with services of 11 Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) buses being disrupted.

In order to prevent another incidence of waterlogging, Satyawan Singh, superintending engineer, MCG, has decided to deploy super suction tankers at 43 points, while a tractor-mounted pump has been deployed at Sector 27. In addition, Singh has also directed the civic body’s executive engineers to clean choked manholes in Sector 34.

“We have identified 46 points across the city, based on the reports and the feedback we received from our executive engineers after Wednesday’s waterlogging. All these areas are low-lying that attract rainwater from the nearby sectors. As such, they remain prone to frequent waterlogging. A clean-up of these areas remains a bit of a challenge. Due to their location , the water does not recede quickly on its own. Hence, we have decided to intervene and introduce machines that can speed up the process of clearing rainwater so as to minimise the impact on traffic and commuters,” said Singh.

Singh added that directions have been issued to executive engineers to identify more such points across the city so that similar measures can be introduced there as well. Additionally, the surveillance of the major roads of the city would also continue to enable prompt action in case of waterlogging.

Reacting to issue of waterlogging in the city, Raman Sharma, chief engineer, MCG, said, “There are several reasons for Wednesday’s waterlogging. Each of these reasons is localised in nature, In some points,​ the drains got clogged, while in others the extent of rainwater accumulation was much higher due to the fact that these areas are located in low lying regions. Nonetheless, we took measures accordingly and cleared most roads of rainwater by the evening,” said Raman Sharma, chief engineer, MCG.

Last month, before the start of the monsoon season, HT had reported that the city is likely to witness waterlogging as most officials of the civic body are busy tackling the spread of Covid-19 and lagging behind on monsoon preparedness.

Between March 21 and April 15 — a period where tenders for cleaning of drains are usually floated and allocated — the MCG had issued an order to all its officials, asking them to solely focus on ensuring basic services, such as sanitation, water, sewage, and streetlights, amid the Covid-19 outbreak, and not take up any other work until further notice.

On April 15, during a video conference between senior MCG officials and councillors, it was decided that tenders for cleaning and desilting of drains can be initiated via e-tendering.However, due to the delay, the first set of tenders was only allotted to contractors in the first week of May with the remaining being alloted only in June.

With a large number of migrant workers returning to their native places, officials of the civic body said that the contractors could not finish the cleaning and desilting of drains properly before the start of the monsoon season.