Monsoon preparation takes a hit as Covid-19 works given higher priority
Authorities are running out of time to make preparations for the upcoming monsoon, which may lead to waterlogging and subsequent traffic snarls at key points of the city. Tenders for desilting drains are pending in some areas while allocated works are going on at a slow pace due to labour shortage.
Over the years, waterlogging has been a major problem for Gurugram due to overflow of drains and the city being located downhill from the Aravallis. In 2016, commuters were stuck on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway for 20 hours, with the incident since being referred to as Gurujam.
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is responsible for the maintenance of master drains, while the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) undertakes the maintenance of arterial drains. Master drains carry sewage or stormwater from two or more residential sectors, while arterial drains is a network within an area or sector.
GMDA and MCG are facing issues to undertake the pre-monsoon preparations.
From March 21 till April 15, MCG had directed its officials to concentrate solely on ensuring basic services, such as sanitation, water, sewage, and streetlights, due to the Covid-19 outbreak. An order had restricted officials from taking up other works until further notice.
It was only on April 15 during a video conference between senior MCG officials and councillors that a decision was taken to start allocation of tenders, via e-tendering, for cleaning and desilting of drains.
The first set of tenders was allotted by MCG to contractors in the first week of May. However, tenders for a few areas remain pending. Contractors who have been allotted tenders say that work is progressing at a slow pace due to lack of manpower, as a large number of migrant workers have returned to their home states.
“We have identified critical waterlogging points across the city and have initiated remedial measures there. Our focus this year is to ensure that rainwater does not accumulate at any point for more than 30 minutes,” said Raman Sharma, chief engineer, MCG.
A senior MCG official privy to the matter said that the period between March 21 and April 15, when no drainage work could be initiated, has severely impacted preparedness measures.“We cannot start desilting preparations in January or February as the drains may once again clog with silt. It is in the March-May period that the bulk of cleaning operations is initiated. We lost more than a month due to the concentration of resources for dealing with Covid-19 and ensuring basic municipal services continue. The best case scenario is that 40-45% of the total drains under MCG will be desilted before monsoon,” the official said.
GMDA, on the other hand, has a bit more of a head start, as it had floated tenders for cleaning drains in key waterlogging-prone stretches — the Golf Course Road, Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), Golf Course Extension Road, Jwala Mill Road, Old Delhi-Road, and Shankar Chowk Marg — in January and allotted tenders in the first week of March.
However, tenders for cleaning drains along a few key stretches remain in the works. Tenders for the Iffco Chowk-Rajiv Chowk stretch, located along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, was floated on May 19, while tenders for the Subhash Chowk-Vatika Chowk stretch on Sohna Road and the Bakhtawar Chowk-Subhash Chowk-Sector 34 marble market (located near Hero Honda Chowk) stretch were floated on May 27, with the opening of bids to be conducted on June 12.
“Although we are better prepared than last year, we are not in the ideal position that we expected to be in. We had expected to clean some sewer lines and desilt a few stormwater drains before the arrival of monsoon in certain areas, which we will not be able to complete in time due to the lockdown and subsequent shortage of workers,” said VS Kundu, chief executive officer (CEO), GMDA.
Kundu said that GMDA is better prepared in comparison to last year as more critical waterlogging points have been identified. “Over the last three months, every time it rained, both the MCG and GMDA officials concerned, with flood control management, were asked to travel around the city and mark every single point where there was a heavy accumulation of rainwater and also identify the reason behind it. Hence, we have a larger database of critical waterlogging points in comparison to last year to concentrate our resources,” said Kundu.
Similar to last year, GMDA and MCG have agreed to work together to clean drains across the city.
On Friday, during a meeting at PWD rest house in Civil Lines, the two identified as many as 79 key waterlogging points across the city, each of which will be monitored by CCTV cameras by officials who will be fixed the responsibility.
Last year, there were 44 key waterlogging-prone spots identified by GMDA and MCG.
This year, the two have also formed a WhatsApp group to share information and send alerts to its respective officials about waterlogging points so that a rapid action team from GMDA’s flood control room can be sent to the spot immediately for resolution. The team will either unclog or channel accumulated rainwater towards a different path, said officials.
GMDA’s flood control room is equipped with dewatering pump sets, tractor-mounted suction pumps, earthmovers, super sucker machines and gunny bags to resolve waterlogging-related problems.
