Waterlogging woes on Old Delhi Road likely to be fixed by next monsoon

Gurgaon: Waterlogging on the Old Delhi Road may be over by next year with the renovation of a master stormwater drain on the busy stretch in the pipeline.
According to Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) officials, Leg 1 of the drain that runs from Old Delhi Road to Railway Culvert number 47 in Palam Vihar was built around 35 years back with “brick masonry walls” and is covered with slabs.Over time and due to the effect of gases released from sewage, the mortar joints of the drain’s wall have become weak at several places in Sector 22 and Palam Vihar, and both the slabs and the wall have started to disintegrate.
Pardeep Kumar, chief engineer of the Infrastructure II division of the GMDA, told TOI, “The entire Leg I of the drain has been damaged to a large extent this monsoon. Portions of the wall have collapsed and some slabs have also toppled inside. We also noticed that the drain overflowed onto the Old Delhi Road when it rained heavily. The issue is that the drain’s upstream section before Old Delhi Road is wider but there is a bit of a bottleneck on the downstream side.”
According to officials, while the width of the drain before Old Delhi Road is 4.25 metres, on the downstream side it is constricted to 2.10 metres and 3.35 metres leading to overflow of drain water on the Old Delhi Road during each heavy spell.
Officials said due to “rapid urbanization” the discharge volume into the drain, especially during monsoon, had gone up but the drain is unable to cater to the entire discharge of its catchment and needs to be reconstructed.
While GMDA initially planned to just repair the stretch from Old Delhi Road to the railway culvert, it later decided to widen the drains’ section to improve its capacity. “The budget estimate up to the railway culvert was first pegged at Rs 35 crore. However, it was later decided that the work should be divided into two phases and handed to two different agencies to be completed simultaneously,” Kumar said, adding that the work was expected to be completed in six months after allotment.
Phase I of the project will involve construction of the drain from Rezang La Chowk to Railway Culvert number 47, while in Phase II the drain from Old Delhi Road culvert to Rezang La Chowk will be constructed, officials said.
“Fixing the stretch under Phase I is a priority as it runs from behind the houses in Palam Vihar. However, the aim is to get both tasks done simultaneously so that the work is completed as early as possible. The drain will be upgraded before next monsoon,” Kumar said. Currently, the GMDA estimates to complete the work under Phase I at Rs 15.85 crore. Apart from the construction of the 1,475-metre-long drain, it will involve building 12 rainwater harvesting pits.