The master sewage line in the service lane of C-1 Block, Palam Vihar, which was repaired recently, began leaking after a night of heavy rainfall in the city, leaving seven families confined to their homes for all of Tuesday. About three feet of rain water mixed with sewage inundated the road that runs along the under-construction flyover at Bajghera railway crossing. Residents said the putrid water also entered their houses.

Anil Verma, a resident, said that 17 families once lived along the road, but at least 10 moved out in July last year fearing health and commuting hazard posed by the overflowing sewage after the main pipeline was damaged during the construction of the Bajghera flyover, work on which was started by the Public Works Department (PWD) in December 2016.

“Worried by the rising water level in our house, we began moving kitchen stuff and other valuable items to higher ground as we saw our footwear begin to float in the dirty, smelly water. By 8am, we were totally confined to our houses since water level inside was approximately half a foot and about three feet in the service lane. I saw a person struggling to drive through the waterlogged road. He had to finally abandon his car,” Verma said.

Sewage leaked from the recently repaired pipeline flooded houses along the service lane near the under-construction Bajghera flyover on Tuesday, January 22, 2019. (Parveen Kumar / HT Photo )

Tuesday’s situation exposed the faults in the recently laid pipeline, for which residents held officials of the PWD and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) responsible. While the GMDA is the custodian authority of the master sewer, the PWD is constructing the flyover at the railway crossing to streamline traffic movement between Gurugram and Delhi.

“Overflowing sewage became a big problem in July last year. We have met PWD and GMDA officials but nothing has happened till date,” another resident Ashwani Arora said.

Following complaints from the residents, a team of engineers of the GMDA and the PWD inspected the site on Tuesday.

“We have placed two motors to drain out rainwater to make service lane free from waterlogging,” PWD executive engineer Narender Yadav said.

“We will clean the sewage line, drain out the rainwater and measure the level difference of pipeline that was relaid in the service lane in question by the PWD,” GMDA superintending engineer Rajesh Bansal said.

The Bajfghera flyover project, the revised deadline for which is March 2019, was conceptualized as the area’s population was increasing and the railway crossing was slowing traffic on the Bajghera road, an area close to the Delhi border. The area the road is crucial as it connects old Gurugram with Delhi near Najafgarh.

First Published: Jan 23, 2019 12:50 IST