Gurugram struggling to fix drainage
Severe water logging, Gurugram struggling to fix drainage Severe water logging across Gurugram on Tuesday left the city crippled due to poor drainage system. Officials who have been involved in managing the city said that the problem started intensifying due to unplanned expansion and execution of ideas without a comprehensive study. “Until the Badshahpur drain was constructed, Gurugram’s drainage system was primarily dependent upon a network of natural drains. Water run-off from the Aravallis used to flow towards the low-lying areas of the city and strategically placed check dams would route the water towards the Najafgarh drain. As a result, the city was free of waterlogging,” said Rajeev Sharma, the first commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) when it was constituted in 2008. “As the city’s real estate boomed in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, the check dams and natural drains started diminishing and concrete structures prevented water from seeping in,” said Sharma. Also Read: One killed; streets waterlogged, Metro services affected in Delhi after heavy rainfall “Gurugram is still a relatively new city, but it is a victim of haphazard planning. Large swathes of land were developed by private builders, regardless of whether the civic amenities, such as a drainage system, were put in place,” said Mukta Naik, an urban planner and a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Research. “Hence, currently, roads are not designed alongside drains. Often, drains are not properly connected to one another and where they exist, they are also not properly desilted, which makes the city susceptible to waterlogging,” she said. -PTC News
