Sunday night rainfall leads to two cave-ins in Gurugram

Following a spell of heavy overnight rainfall, portion of roads in two major stretches of Gurugram caved in early on Monday morning.

Following a spell of heavy overnight rainfall, portion of roads in two major stretches of Gurugram caved in early on Monday morning.

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The first cave-in was reported from below the IFFCO Chowk flyover, less than 50 metres from the IFFCO Chowk bus stop — one of the busiest stretches in the city with buses heading to Rajasthan and southern parts of Haryana stopping here. In addition, traffic heading from MG Road towards Delhi on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway also pass through this stretch before taking the u-turn flyover located 250 metres ahead.

The other cave-in was reported on a stretch of road that connects sector 46 with sector 50, near Bakhtawar Chowk. Traffic heading towards Sohna Road, Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, Golf Course Extension Road, and internal sectors of 46, 47, and 50 use the stretch. At both the sites, Gurugram police barricaded the caved-in areas and also cautioned commuters over social media.

Pardeep Attri, superintending engineer, GMDA said that a pipeline burst below the surface of the road leading to the sector 46/50 cave-in. “A pipeline running below the road had developed leakage. The accumulated water from the overnight rainfall further weakened the top-surface due to which a portion of the road caved. We have fixed the pipeline. However, due to rainy conditions expected in the next 3-4 days, we will start bitumen work only over the weekend and then subsequently open the affected portion for traffic. In the interim, the caved-in portion will remain barricaded,” said Attri.

Both the cave-ins are at least five-foot wide and six-foot deep, said GMDA officials. Officials further said that there was no major impact on traffic since both the cave-ins occurred in the corner most lanes of the carriageways that vehicles could avoid and instead take the other two lanes.

As per NHAI officials familiar with the matter, a cave-in at IFFCO Chowk had occurred last monsoon as well. “The cave-in had occurred during monsoon last year as well. The space between the road and the underground pipeline below is hollow due to which the stretch caves-in whenever there is heavy rain. This usually happens when the road is dug for inserting underground cables but not properly filled up properly when work is completed. Although this is GMDA’s fault and it is their scope of work, it is likely that we will receive a request from them for repairing it. Due to rainy conditions, we will start bitumen related work after 48 hours, and ensure the gap is properly backfilled,” said the senior NHAI official.

Attri said that the cave-in occurred on NHAI road and it comes under their jurisdiction. Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI meanwhile said that GMDA would be responsible for carrying out the work.

Sunday night’s rainfall started around 11.30 pm and went on till around 1am on Monday. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) website, the city received 12mm of rainfall and is forecasted to receive more showers till July 26.

The spell of rainfall also left a few stretches — such as IFFCO Chowk, CH Bakhtawar Singh Road, Kherki-Daula-Narsinghpur, sectors 4, 5, 56, 31, Sohna Road — waterlogged with civic officials installing motor pumps in several locations to divert rainwater towards the nearest drainage outlet. Officials said that by noon, water had receded in most parts of the city.

“Despite heavy rain, most roads were largely clear of waterlogging. Even the ones which reported waterlogging were due to localised reasons. In a few spots, we used motor pumps to draw out rainwater. However, barring a few spots, by noon almost all roads across the city were free of rainwater,” said Raman Sharma, chief engineer, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG).

Devendra Bhadana, executive engineer, horticulture wing, MCG said that the civic body cleared out eight trees from across the city such as Udyog Vihar, sectors 28, 31, all of which had uprooted due to strong winds and heavy rains on Sunday night.

He said that the MCG received information of four trees falling onto the roads from the police control room while locals contacted them about the others. Bhadana said that all trees fell in open areas and did not result in injuries or cause any damages.