Funds dry up for Badshahpur drain; Ggm may again face waterlogging this season

Gurugram: Having already faced the situation of urban flooding twice in the span of four years, the challenge of water logging especially during monsoon is likely to continue as the Badshahpur drain has still not been completed, owing to a lack of funds in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Tasked with the responsibility of completing the 28 kilometer drain the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) has run out of funds to make the remaining part of drain. As of now the drain has the capacity to take out only 1,100 cusecs of water.

However, to prevent the situation of excessive water logging or worse, the prospect of urban flooding, a minimum 2,600 cusecs of water needs to be drained out. What has made matters worse for the public agency is that with the coming of COVID-19, its requirement for the funds from the State government has further been limited.

As per officials, there is still a substantial amount of land that needs to be acquired for increasing the capacity of the drain. The officials of HSVP now are in touch with other members of the public for the process of land acquisition.

Already on the brink of bankruptcy due to mounting debts, the HSVP is also mulling over the prospect of handing over the remaining work to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

The planning for extending the capacity of Badshahpur drain has been in works ever since Gurugram was first flooded in 2016. As per officials, various legal hurdles involved in the land acquisition has prevented them from expediting the work.

According to officials, the 600-metre stretch in Khandsa village has been identified as the main points for causing water logging problems. The drain narrows in Khandsa, with its width reducing from 30 metres to 10 metres, leading to overflow of rainwater at Hero Chowk and areas around it.

The shortage of funds and the incomplete Badshahpur drain has also delayed the plans for beautifying the area.

There were plans to beautify the 6.5 kilometre stretch of Badshahpur drain from National Highway -8 to Sohna Road by setting up cycle tracks and walkways. For a city that used to have ponds and bunds, today most of it is encroached and built up areas. Most of the bunds that have now become extinct were set up during the British times.

The ones that are surviving continue to remain in a neglected state. In over 460 ponds spread across Gurugram district, 208 have dried up and 186 are dirty where water cannot be utilised.