No lesson learnt: Why waterlogging is annual feature in Gurugram when it rains

GURUGRAM: Heavy rains on Wednesday once again led to waterlogging in several parts of the city, washing away the promises made by the government agencies on having had spent crores on the drainage system in the city since the 2016 Gurujam.
As per the figures shared by GMDA in its budget, the development agency has spent Rs 80 crore on the operation and maintenance of master drains in the city in the past three years of its existence.Another Rs 280 crore has been approved for the comprehensive drainage project that is yet to begin. Meanwhile, at least Rs 300 crore was spent on the widening of the Badshapur drain for augmenting its capacity.
MCG, too, has spent crores on the internal drains since the 2016 Gurujam. However, the waterlogging problem in the city continues. In fact, on Wednesday, multiple places, including Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Old Delhi Road, Narsinghpur, Gold Souk and Gurugram bus stand witnessed flooding. Besides, many sectors saw waterlogging in the internal roads as well.
Besides the funds, there is also an issue with the timing of the efforts. While during every monsoon, the government agencies claim that things will be different in the coming season, nothing changes. And the preparations for monsoon start only weeks before the rains are about to hit the city. Even this year, the cleaning, desilting and identification of the critical points was done in June.
GMDA officials, however, said only eight of the 32 critical points identified by them last month saw waterlogging on Wednesday. “We had the pumps at all these spots, including Narsinghpur and Jwala Mills, and the water was pumped out in a few hours,” said Pradeep Kumar, chief engineer of GMDA. “Also we have also been able to avoid flooding in the city’s underpasses.”
Talking about these eight spots, Kumar said, “These sites are prone to flooding. We are looking at long-term solutions for these points as well.” However, when asked about the money spent on drainage in the previous year, he said that since he joined the authority this year, he would not be able to comment on the past expenditure.
While GMDA had set up a flood control room, MCG had also announced the formation of a quick response team. However, with the waterlogged roads, these preparations seem to have remained largely on the paper.
When contacted, Raman Sharma, chief engineer of MCG, told TOI, “After it rained on Tuesday, we ensured that water was pumped out of the low-lying areas by the evening. On Wednesday, we pumped out water from the low-lying areas. Our teams are out in the field and we have provided them with around 25 pumps to ensure that water does not accumulate at one place.”