Portion of Ghamroj bundh excavated to create a rest area by NHAI

A portion of the Ghamroj bundh, which runs for about two kilometres along Sohna Road in Ghamroj village, has been excavated to make room for a ‘rest area’, being

A portion of the Ghamroj bundh, which runs for about two kilometres along Sohna Road in Ghamroj village, has been excavated to make room for a ‘rest area’, being built as part of the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) upcoming toll complex on NH 248A.

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While NHAI officials said that move has been made in compliance with required protocols, experts and activists warned that tampering with the structural integrity of the bundh — intended to arrest runoff from Aravalli hills which skirt around the village — may pose adverse consequences for flooding and may negatively affect the ground water recharge in the area.

A visit to the location by an HT team on Sunday morning found that an estimated 500-metre section of the bundh, just ahead of the Mehendwara intersection on Sohna Road, has been demolished using earthmoving machines with the bundh having been entirely breached in one place. On the rear side of the bundh is a low-lying area where locals said small amounts of water sometimes collects during the rainy season. This depression, workers on site explained, will be reclaimed with earth in order to bring the ‘rest area’ slightly above the height of the carriageway. Construction work for the same is already underway at the site.

Confirming these details, NHAI officials clarified that the decision to reclaim the bundh has been made after carrying out a drainage study of the area, in collaboration with the irrigation department. Vikas Mittal, technical manager, NHAI, said, “Members of the irrigation department as well as myself have carried out multiple site inspections during this past monsoon, and there is very little water which collects behind the bundh today. We are also building catch drains around the rest area, and will also install RCC pipes along the length of the bundh to channel any excess runoff, though we do not anticipate anyway.”

However, Mittal also revealed that required permissions for the same are still being processed. “We received clearance from the forest department for diversion of forest land on the bundh in 2018, but that does not allow us to change the physical structure of the bundh. To do that, we require the irrigation department’s permission. Due to procedural delays, we have not received their official go ahead, but they have given us in principle approval and so the work has started.” He also added, “We will not be harming the function of the bundh in any way. The portion, which is being reclaimed lies at one end, the remaining length of the bundh will not be affected.”

Activists, on the other hand, said the move is in contradiction of Sohna’s Master Plan 2031, which states that the bundh will be retained in its current state. An explanatory note issued in this regard by the town and country planning department on November 15, 2012), mentions, “Sohna Town is surrounded by Aravalli Ranges on eastern & western side. In the rainy season, run-off from these ranges passes through proposed urbanization through barsati Nallahs namely Mehandwara Nadi. Three bundhs namely Sohna bundh, Mohmmadpur bundh and Ghamroj bundh exist on the western side of the town to check the run-off and for recharging the underground water table. All the three existing bundhs and alignment of the tributaries of Mehandwara Nadi / Nallah have been retained as such in the Development Plan on the request of the Irrigation Department (sic).”

Prem Mohan Gaur, a resident of Hajjipur village on Sohna-Palwal road, who frequents the area regularly, says he noticed the bundh being reclaimed almost three months ago. “Passing through the area in early October, I noticed that this entire section of the bundh has been removed. I am aware the removal of traditional bundhs in other parts of the district, like the one in Ghata village, which has resulted in excessive waterlogging in the area. I have written to the public information office of the NHAI and to the district administration on October 8. I am hoping they will look into the issue.”

Experts, meanwhile, said that reclaiming traditional water harvesting structures is not advisable. Ranjana Chaudhuri, director, School of Regional Water Studies at TERI, said, “If they are building a rest house in a low-lying catchment area, it will definitely be prone to flooding. If not during a regular monsoon, then surely during extreme weather events like we witnessed earlier this year. Channelling the runoff through additional drains and RCC pipes will not help groundwater recharge.”

A senior official, formerly of the forest department, said, “This sort of development sets a very bad precedent for groundwater recharge, which is the need of the hour. Moreover, one cannot puncture a bundh in one part and expect that it will remain effective. We will have to wait and see. Nevertheless, Gururgam and Faridabad have together lost close to 80 or 90 such bunds to development work in the past few decades. We need to seriously try and revive these structures instead of diverting them for to make way for more infrastructure and concretisation.”

VS Lambha, district hydrologist, did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. However, data obtained from his office shows that the underlying water table in Sohna has dipped by 21 metres since 1974, when groundwater monitoring first commenced in Gurugram district. Currently at 25 metres below ground level, Sohna’s aquifers have lost an average of two metres of groundwater every year.