Day after waterlogging, Gurugram authority in damage control mode

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, August 12

As the year-long efforts of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) failed to prevent flooding and waterlogging in the city, the body held an urgent inter-department meeting today to exercise damage control in Gurugram.

According to GMDA officials, the meeting was aimed at deliberating on a broad and long-term comprehensive development plan for enhanced flood preparedness during the monsoon season. While the entire city is up against the civic authorities for the mess, GMDA officials claim that they managed to bring down flood-prone points from 79 in 2020 to only 16 in 2024.

“The GMDA has analysed satellite data collated over a period of five years to identify and map the low-lying and potential waterlogging-prone areas in the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex region. Out of the 79 vulnerable spots along GMDA master roads in 2020, remedial measures and work of laying adequate infrastructure have been taken up by the authority at 63 such locations to provide relief during heavy rainfall,” said GMDA CEO A Sreenivas.

“We will also identify additional new hotspots, where waterlogging has been reported this year. These will be shared with the respective departments. A committee will be formed to chalk out a cohesive and long-term comprehensive plan to equip the city with adequate and efficient drainage and mitigate urban flooding,” he said.

The GMDA authorities directed the Municipal Corporations of Gurugram and Manesar to closely examine their existing drainage network and expedite the work in areas where the drainage infrastructure was being built. Additionally, they have been asked to ensure that the internal drains are connected with the master drain of the GMDA so that the stormwater within the sectors is channelised into master drains.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were asked to submit the complete structure of their existing drain network and its connectivity with the GMDA master drainage. The GMDA team will carry out an inspection to the check the functionality of the NHAI drains and ensure that these are properly linked with the authority’s existing master stormwater drains, Leg 1, L2 and L3.

According to GMDA officials, the check dams developed by the body across different creeks located in the Aravallis have been instrumental in holding rainwater and thereby preventing the flooding of Golf Course Road, and they were asked to build more structures to arrest the flow.

The Urban Environment Division has been asked to ensure that all new green belts are built lower than the level of the main carriageway to support rainwater retention during the heavy monsoon season.

‘GMDA analysed data to map low-lying areas’

• GMDA CEO A Sreenivas said the GMDA had analysed satellite data collated over a period of five years to identify and map the low-lying and potential waterlogging-prone areas in the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex region.
• Out of the 79 vulnerable spots along GMDA master roads in 2020, remedial measures and work of laying adequate infrastructure had been taken up by the authority at 63 such locations to provide relief during heavy rainfall, he added.