NHAI to urgently dewater Rajiv Chowk underpass

GURGAON: To prevent weakening of the newly built structure at the Rajiv Chowk underpass, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has asked the contractor to urgently dewater the non-motorised traffic tunnel and underpass that were submerged due to rain on Friday morning.

The highway authority, however, alleged that the flooding was not due to the rain, but was caused by a faulty interconnection of the sewerage and storm water pipelines at Subhash Chowk. However, Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) officials stood their ground while admitting a slight delay by the engineering wing officials in allowing the discharge of water in the storm water drain. The authority said the problem was caused because the highway authority’s contractor had failed to lay around 500 metres of storm water pipeline uprooted for construction work.

According to officials of the highway authority, millions of gallons of sewage and storm water flowed in the reverse direction because a large sewerage pipe was blocked by Huda’s engineering wing to clean the Badshahpur and adjoining drains, and also to carry out work for construction of a sump downstream.

“What saved the situation on Friday was that all the water collected at Tau Devi Lal stadium. Almost three-four feet of dirty water submerged the stadium and the entire structure at Rajiv Chowk,” said Ashok Sharma, project director, Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Due to flooding of the underpass, some stretches of the road along the wall of the structure caved in on Friday morning. However, after a timely warning by the police officials, the highway authority’s contractor took precautionary measures at the intersection, which prevented further caving.

The underpass at Rajiv Chowk is five-and-a-half metres high, and the two lanes that are submerged are almost 400 metres long. “The blockage of the sewage pipe at Subhash Chowk was removed early on Friday and this helped in dewatering the stadium,” Sharma said.