More than two years after the city’s infamous ‘Gurujam’ incident, the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) is set to complete work on widening the Badshahpur drain in Khandsa village this week, which will channel the water body through two large, underground culverts, said HSVP administrator Chander Shekhar Khare on Monday.

If effective, this engineering solution could help mitigate Gurugram’s perennial urban flooding issue during the monsoon.

Besides, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has planned an alternative drain that will split from the Badhshahpur nullah beyond Vatika Chowk, and travel for a length of 5km along the Dwarka Expressway before reconnecting with the Badhshahpur drain.

Following 2016’s ‘Gurujam’ episode, government authorities and environmentalists identified a particular stretch of the Badhshahpur nullah, which runs through the densely populated Khandsa village for 600 metres, as a primary cause of the flood.

The Badhshapur nullah is an arterial storm water drain, which has been encroached upon in the recent years due to urban sprawl, reducing its carrying capacity and compromising the city’s ability to absorb rainfall.

Backflow from the drain has been identified as a key cause of waterlogging during monsoons. The width of the drain in Khandsa is the narrowest in its 28km trajectory through Gurugram, at just 10 metre. It is about 30m wide in other areas. “The carrying capacity of the drain reduces here from 2,200 cusecs to just 700 cusecs,” Shweta Sharma, executive engineer, HSVP, said.

The Haryana government had, in 2016, decided to widen the drain to avoid further deluges, with an initial deadline for April 2017.

“There was a delay in this project due to some snags, such as relocation of affected citizens from Khandsa, a few court cases challenging our work, and some trees that were coming in the way. These hurdles are now cleared and we are set to complete the work within this week,” Khare said.

Sharma said that the renewed carrying capacity of the widened drain is 2,300 cusecs.

However, the widening of the drain is not a future proof solution, according to GMDA’s chief engineer Lalit Arora. “As the city urbanises and gets more paved, particularly in areas where the run-off is generated, it will lead to more volume of water entering the drain during monsoons.”

To solve this issue, the GMDA has planned an alternative drain. The capacity of this second channel will be between 2,300 to 2,700 cusecs, taking the total capacity of both drains to above 4,500 cusecs. The total anticipated run-off in coming years is expected to be 3,500 cusecs.

“The idea has been approved in principle by the Haryana government. Tenders for the work will be issued in coming months,” Arora explained, and adding that a large part of the drain (around 2km) would be left open.

According to the GMDA’s recently approved ‘comprehensive drainage plan’ for Gurugram, the total storm water catchment area within the Gurugram Manesar Urban Complex is about 50,000 hectares.

Activists, on the other hand, say that the HSVP’s engineering solution, which involves excavating the earth and channelling the drain via two large underground culverts, will not be enough to stop another ‘Gurujam’ situation.

Sharmila Kaushik, a city-based activist, pointed out that concretising the drain in the manner that the urban development body has done, is in violation of a National Green Tribunal order from 2017, which was passed in relation to the concretisation of a similar stormwater drain in Chakkarpur village. 
“Not only will the HSVP’s move harm the drain’s groundwater recharge capacity, as water cannot percolate through pipes and concrete, but it will instead have the opposite effect in case of unprecedented rainfall and backflow,” Kaushik added.

First Published: Jun 04, 2019 02:09 IST