News: Flooding makes Delhi-Gurugram travel a nightmare-28-07-2021
GURUGRAM: A heavy downpour on Tuesday morning predictably inundated parts of the city, including the road leading to the venue for a function in Sector 29 where chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had been invited as a chief guest.
The city received 18.6mm of rainfall on Tuesday. The rain started around 5.30am in the morning, while intermittent drizzle continued for almost the whole day.
While areas such as Ardee City, Mayfield Garden, Suncity, Galleria Market, South City-1, Palam Vihar, Kanhai Chowk, Udyog Vihar, Bilaspur Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Wazirabad and the service lane at Narsinghpur on NH-8 were flooded, traffic flow within the city didn’t see heavy disruption.
Golf Course Road remained largely unaffected, but some parts of the stretch like Genpact Chowk and AIT Chowk were waterlogged.
Although vehicular movement in most parts of the city remained largely unaffected, waterlogging in neighbouring Delhi meant those headed to Gurgaon from the national capital were stuck in long traffic jams.
The South Korea ambassador, Chang Jae-bok, who was supposed to attend the same event as the CM — inauguration of Hyundai’s new corporate office — could not make it to the venue.
Residents blamed the lack of preparations by the civic authorities for their monsoon woes.
“Every time there is heavy rain, waterlogging throws our normal lives out of gear. What is more surprising is the government’s apathetic attitude towards ensuring that civic infrastructure is maintained in privately-developed colonies,” said Chaitali Mandhotra, a resident of Ardee City.
“The authorities are only working towards short-term measures but are not focusing on a long-term plan for the city’s infrastructure. All the preparation remains only on paper,” Sector 56 resident Ashok Ahuja said.
Asked about waterlogging outside the venue where the CM was expected, Gurgaon mayor Madhu Azad said that the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is responsible for that road and despite being aware about the programme, they did nothing to ensure drainage.
“Waterlogging occured due to an overflowing stormwater drain near the venue. Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) made immediate arrangements to drain out the water,” Azad said. She added that she has instructed the MCG chief engineer to seek a response from GMDA for not desilting stormwater drains in a timely manner.
GMDA passed the buck to the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP).
“Sector 29 is with HSVP. After the stormwater drain overflowed, GMDA and MCG made arrangements for drainage,” GMDA chief engineer Pradeep Kumar said, adding, "There was no major waterlogging reported in the city and all measures to prevent rainwater runoff were effective in preventing flooding at arterial roads. Water receded from almost all locations within one hour after the rain.” HSVP officials couldn’t be reached for a comment.
Deputy commissioner Yash Garg convened a meeting with officials from MCG, GMDA and the National Highways Authority of India to tackle the waterlogging problem on Tuesday. He instructed the officials concerned to undertake immediate measures to resolve the issue.
More rain likely this week
The city could see more waterlogging incidents as light to moderate rain is expected in the next three to four days. There is also a possibility of a spell of heavy rain, the met department said. IMD has issued a yellow alert for Wednesday with chances of light to moderate rain accompanied with thunderstorms and lightning. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature stood at 30 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was recorded at 25.4 degrees.
So far, Gurugram has received 314.2mm rainfall between June 1 and July 27, against the season’s normal of 202.5mm. In June, the city had recorded 41.9mm rainfall and 272.3mm rain has been recorded in this month so far, IMD said.
