Stretch of Gurugram’s Basai Road caves in
The road fell in due to a leak in the sewage pipeline embedded about 20 feet below the ground, an official of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), which is responsible for fixing sewerage, said.
A portion of Basai Road, near Khandsa Chowk, caved in on Saturday morning, leaving a gaping hole in the carriageway towards Gurugram, which is now likely to stay closed for repairs at least till the next week.
The road fell in due to a leak in the sewage pipeline embedded about 20 feet below the ground, an official of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), which is responsible for fixing sewerage, said.
Soon after the cave-in took place, around 5.30am, a truck loaded with bricks got caught in the hole that was estimated to be at least 12-foot deep. Officials of the traffic police, MCG and Gurugram Metropolitan Authority (GMDA) reached the spot around 8am, after which the truck was removed with a crane, around noon. No one was injured in the mishap.
The Basai Road provides connectivity with the Kundli- Manesar-Palwal Expressway, Badli, and sectors near the Dwarka Expressway. The police diverted the vehicles to the other carriageway but a lingering jam was prevented due to a low volume of traffic on Saturday, officials said.
“Six traffic personnel have been deployed at the spot and they will be stationed there until the repair work is completed. Heavy traffic is expected Monday onwards. Therefore, more staff will be deployed to manage vehicular movement,” said Himanshu Garg, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).
According to ND Vashisht, MCG’s chief engineer, workers were likely to check the leakage in the pipeline on Saturday night. “Only when we know the extent of the damage can we estimate a timeline for the repair work. The department will take at least three days to repair the damaged pipeline, but it might take up to a week,” he said.
“MCG workers will remove the sewage collected in the hole using a motor pump. The depth of the hole can be up to 16 feet, but it will be clear once the top layer of soil is removed,” he said.
The sewage pipeline was laid during the Yamuna Action Plan in 2004-05 and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is the road owning agency. Inspecting the damage at the site, the chief engineer of GMDA, Lalit Kumar, said that they will start repairing the road only after the MCG fixes the pipeline.