MCG starts work on a 2.5km pipeline to prevent waterlogging on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway

To prevent accumulation of rainwater on the Narsinghpur-Khandsa stretch on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has started

To prevent accumulation of rainwater on the Narsinghpur-Khandsa stretch on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has started work on installing a 2.5km-long drainage pipeline on the stretch, said officials on Friday.

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The 3km route is one of the worst-affected stretches in the city when it comes to waterlogging. With the pipeline, the civic body aims to link the drainage lines located on the service lanes of the expressway at Narsinghpur to the nearby Badshahpur drain.

Such is the extent of waterlogging on this stretch that even a short spell of rain leaves the service lanes of the expressway and a few lanes of the main carriageway on the Narsinghpur-Khandsa stretch heavily inundated.

As recently as Wednesday, a brief spell of afternoon rain had left the entire stretch flooded, leading to Gurugram traffic police officials cautioning commuters to avoid the stretch via social media. Due to the limited availability of space to manoeuvre vehicles on the stretch, heavy traffic snarls are often witnessed on the expressway, especially on the Delhi-Manesar side.

MCG chief engineer Raman Sharma said that the civic body has started work on a pipeline on the service lane of Narsinghpur and is aiming to complete the work by the end of this month.

“Since Narsinghpur is located on the low-lying side, every monsoon season, a heavy gush of rainwater from the nearby high-lying areas starts flowing towards the expressway, leading to waterloggng. This also affects the traffic movement on the stretch. As such, MCG has purchased pipelines from the Haryana Sahari Vikas Parishad (HSVP) and has started work on the project. We are aiming to finish the project within three weeks,: said Sharma.

As per MCG officials, the cost of the pipelines is ₹34 lakh, while, the estimated cost of the entire project is around ₹55 lakh.

Earlier this year, prior to the start of the monsoon season, the civic body had installed six motor pumps on the stretch to prevent waterlogging. However, officials said that pumps failed to have a significant impact as they were frequently affected by power outages.

“Because the nearby areas are located on an incline most of the rainwater that is channelled out with the help of motor pumps recede towards the expressway. As such, the pumps have largely proved to be worthless. In addition, there have been instances, where, because of power outages, we weren’t able to turn on the pumps on time. We had to arrange for diesel generators in such situations, which took time. As a result, by the time the pumps started working on an optimum capacity, 2-3 hours had already been wasted, leading to the entire area being flooded,” said NHAI officials privy to the matter.

On July 21, the motor pumps started working only 2-3 hours after it had started raining. Due to power outage, the NHAI had to arrange a 65 kVA diesel generator on a short notice, leading to entire stretch being heavily flooded until evening.

The problem of waterlogging is so acute on the stretch that commuters often avoid using it during the monsoon season. “For the last two years, I have been primarily using the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) to head towards Manesar during the monsoon season. Even a short amount of rain would leave the Khandsa-Narsinghpur stretch heavily waterlogged. It takes me more than 25 minutes to cross the stretch during peak traffic hours. Therefore as a precautionary measure, I often use the SPR and bypass the expressway completely,” said R Srinivasan, a resident of Sector 51.