Chief secy meets dept heads, reviews Gurugram infra projects

GURUGRAM: Haryana chief secretary D S Dhesi held a high-level meeting in the city on Monday morning, with all departmental heads of Gurgaon district.
In the meeting, which lasted for around three hours, key issues such as widening of Badshapur drain, shifting of Kherki Daula toll plaza and underpasses being built on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, were discussed.

The chief secretary also visited some of the underpasses that are nearing completion.

According to sources, the underpass at Rajiv Chowk is likely to be the first to be commissioned, on January 20, by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar who will be in town for the first GMDA meeting.

Apart from reviewing the infrastructure projects, Dhesi also issued directions to Gurgaon officials to draw a list of all choke points that lead to traffic congestion in the city and resolve their specific issues, and asked them to take measures to reduce air pollution.

All officials were asked to present the latest progress report on all ongoing projects in the city, accompanied by a brief explanatory and descriptive note.

According to officials who took part in the meeting, Dhesi directed each department to ensure there is no trace of flooding at Hero Honda Chowk the coming monsoon season. Gurgaon Municipal Development Authority (GMDA) CEO, V Umashankar, told the chief secretary that work to widen Badshapur drain will be completed in five months.

"Once this drain is widened, it will have the capacity to carry 1,750 cusecs of water. The culvert under Delhi-Gurgaon expressway at Hero Honda Chowk now has a capacity of 2,300 cusecs, up from its capacity of 500 cusecs before it was widened. The forest department is also constructing check dams at Ghata village, to harvest rainwater. A reservoir is also being constructed in Wazirabad over 43 acres, so that most of the rainwater can be diverted to it, leaving only the run-off for Badshapur drain," said Umashankar.

At the meeting, NHAI officials informed the chief secretary that once land at Sehrawan, where the toll plaza from Kherki Dhaula is to be shifted, is handed over to them, the relocation work can be completed in three months.

Meanwhile, Huda and MCG officials informed him that work at three of the four underpasses — at Iffco Chowk, Signature Chowk and Rajiv Chowk — are nearing completion, and can be opened to traffic soon. The Hero Honda Chowk underpass alone could take up to March to be opened.