MillenniumPost
Delhi

Road caves in at Hero Chowk underpass in Gurugram

Gurugram: Less than a week after a huge portion of the road at Rampura flyover in Manesar fell apart, caving-in of the road at Hero Chowk underpass has again raised questions over the construction of new road infrastructure in Gurugram.

The underpass is a vital link of connectivity between commercial area of Sohna road, industrial area of sector-10 and new residential sectors of Dwarka Expressway.

The underpass is one of the busiest routes in the city as it is being used by lakhs of commuters daily to move to different places in the city.

Despite being a Sunday, the caving in of the road resulted in huge traffic jams around the area before the situation was controlled by the Gurugram police.

Moreover, what can leave the public authorities in Gurugram embarrassed and red-faced is that the newly built underpass was inaugurated by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on May 27 this year. The reason behind the caving-in of the road all of a sudden is not known yet. However, sources indicate that the road has been broken because of the passing of a heavy vehicle that may have been overloaded.

Ever since the Hero Chowk underpass has been opened for commuters, various flaws have only exposed the lack of planning and design in the opening of the underpass.

In August this year, when Gurugram received three and a half hours of continuous rainfall, it was Hero Chowk underpass that was one of the worse affected places where the water level filled up to 20 feet. Subsequently, it took the authorities three way to pump out the water and make the underpass operational. Like other new underpasses that have recently come up, there are also complaints by commuters that the underpass is not properly lit.

The incidents again highlighted the list of various infrastructure flaws that have been unravelled in the new road infrastructure come up along with the National Highway-8.

Recently, there were cracks that has been witnessed on two occasions at the Hero Chowk flyover. Taking cognisance of the danger that these cracks pose to the commuters, the NHAI officials have closed the stretch and begun the maintenance work.

Slated to be completed within 30 months, Hero Chowk was completed in the record time of 15 months. Similar complaints of cracks being developed was also reported from the IFFCO Chowk flyover.

Not only National Highway-8 but citizens have also expressed their dissatisfaction over planning and quality of construction in Golf Course road. Despite being made a signal free road, lack of proper drainage has resulted in waterlogging and traffic jam at the major road. There seems to be no planning by the officials who build the road. It is well known about how poor drainage systems are resulting in the flooding of our cities.

"Yet, the engineers want to compromise quality by saving costs on building the drainage as a result of which most of the roads, even after crores of investment, are getting spoilt," said Rajan Bhargava, a city resident.

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