Flood check: Pumps at Gurugram underpasses under scanner

GURUGRAM: With monsoons around the corner, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), jointly with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and DLF, will begin drills from Wednesday to check the pumping machinery inside city underpasses to eliminate the possibilities of waterlogging inside them during rains this year.

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) fire officer, during the drills, will deploy fire tenders, which will release a high quantity of water into all of the underpasses. The existing pumping machinery inside them and the associated drainage system should ideally drain the water.
Gurugram has 12 such underpasses. While DLF will ensure the pumping machinery is working efficiently in the three underpasses on Golf Course Road and two in Cyber City, NHAI will focus on the seven other underpasses in its jurisdiction.
According to the GMDA, the drills will help all departments gauge the on-ground situation and take necessary measures to prevent waterlogging in the underpasses. “Before the arrival of monsoons, we will undertake trial runs of the drainage and pumping machinery in all city underpasses. It will ensure the machinery are working to their full capacity and help take any further action, where required, to avoid traffic congestion and inconvenience to commuters during the rains,” Sudhir Rajpal, the GMDA chief executive officer (CEO), said.
According to the schedule shared by the GMDA, NHAI will conduct the drill at the underpass near Ambience Mall, while DLF will do the same work in the u-turn underpasses in Cyber City on Wednesday. NHAI will also take care of the drill at the Shankar Chowk underpass while DLF will do the same for the Sikanderpur underpass on Thursday.
On June 3, while NHAI will undertake the drill in the underpass between IFFCO Chowk metro station and MG Road, DLF will focus on the DLF Phase 1 underpass.