Farmers Movement Archive

City marks five years of Gurujam with similar woes

Residents woke up to flooded roads and water overflow inside housing societies as 91.8mm rainfall wreaked havoc in the city on Wednesday morning, with several areas expected to be waterlogged till midnight.This was the second consecutive day that waterlogging was reported due to rainfall. However, the intensity was much higher in comparison on Wednesday, as only 18.6mm of rainfall was recorded on Tuesday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).According to IMD Chandigarh, Gurugram recorded 12.8mm rainfall between 8.30am on Tuesday and 8.30am on Wednesday, and 91.8mm rainfall between 8.30am and 5.30pm on Wednesday.The day also marked the fifth anniversary of the infamous “Gurujam” incident of 2016 when commuters were stuck on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway for nearly two days and a rainfall of 52mm was enough to flood all arterial roads, inundate houses, and wash away the moniker of “Millennium City.”On Wednesday, three underpasses, two at Rajiv Chowk and one at Hero Honda Chowk, were temporarily shut while key stretches, such as Sheetla Mata Road and Hamilton Court Road, were barricaded.At least 16 teams of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) were deployed on the ground with the necessary machinery to implement counter-waterlogging measures.Pardeep Kumar, the chief engineer of GMDA, said that rainwater was cleared from 90% of the city by 6pm, three hours after it stopped raining.“The city received nearly 100mm of rainfall, which is considered to be in the heavy category. In the high-lying areas of the city, rainwater was cleared within two hours, while in the low-lying areas, it took around three hours,” said Kumar.Kumar said that work on clearing rainwater from Iffco Chowk Road and CH Bakhtawar Singh Road was still ongoing, at the time of filing the report. Also, Narsinghpur, sectors 9A, 21, 22, and 23, which are considered to be the lowest points in the city, were waterlogged, with officials saying that rainwater will recede once the load on the drainage lines reduces.“All three-leg master drains have been running at full capacity since the afternoon. Rainwater in the aforementioned low-lying areas will recede when there is an outlet for it. We are anticipating them to be cleared by 10pm,” said Kumar.Kumar said that in Narsinghpur, where the service lanes of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway were flooded, eight motor pumps were being used to drain out rainwater and that work is expected to finish in the early hours of Thursday, after midnight.As many as 250 police personnel were deployed at the city’s 12 underpasses. Between noon and 1pm, traffic police closed two underpasses at Rajiv Chowk and one at Hero Honda Chowk for a short duration as a precautionary measure, due to rainwater accumulation.“We did not want to take any chances and did not want any motorist or commuter to get stranded inside the underpasses. We closed the three underpasses for 15-30 minutes, and opened them after 1pm, when the intensity of the rain had reduced,” a senior traffic police official, who did not wish to be named, said.Of the cumulative strength of 6,312 police personnel, 4,500 were deployed on waterlogging duties, with hourly reports sent to the police commissioner.KK Rao, the commissioner of police, said that teams were deployed at 38 waterlogging-prone spots in advance. “The teams were well prepared. We had kept cranes ready near all the underpasses and stretches, with 14 vehicles having to be towed during the day. Officials were directed to keep a close watch on traffic and assist those stranded. The most challenging stretches were Sheetla Mata Road, Sohna Road, Basai Road, those in sectors 10, 17 and 38, Sushant Lok-1, IMT Chowk, Narsingpur and Dwarka Expressway,” said Rao.Despite heavy police deployment, Ambedkar Road, MDI Chowk, Narsinghpur, Mayfield Garden, Nathupur, Hamilton Court Road, Tikri exit, Dhankot, Jwala Mill Road, Udyog Vihar, sector 4/7/9 traffic signal, CH Bakhtawar Singh Road, Kapashera border, Iffco Chowk, IMT Chowk, and Basai Road were all inundated, resulting in traffic snarls.The traffic police issued alerts on social media cautioning commuters to avoid waterlogged areas.CH Bakhtawar Singh Road, Narsinghpur, Sheetla Mata Road, MF Husain Marg and Hamilton Court Road were the worst-hit stretches, with commuters taking nearly 20-45 minutes to cross them.Harshit Shukla, a resident of Sector 50, said, “It took me nearly an hour to reach the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway from my house. The underpass near Medanta hospital was closed, while the CH Bakhtawar Singh Road was flooded with knee-deep water. Wrong-side driving was rampant and many vehicles had broken down. It was complete chaos.”A section of the Sheetla Mata Road was closed for several hours on Wednesday due to heavy rainwater accumulation while on Hamilton Court Road, the road leading towards Cross Point Mall and camera museum was closed by MCG officials as rainwater had entered many people’s houses.Roads in residential areas of MG Road, Sushant Lok-1, South City-2, sectors 3, 5 and 6, and Suncity, among others, were also rendered unusable as water accumulated to a waist-high level and entered residences.

Hindustan Times

28-07-2021

Gurugram