Rain-damaged Gurugram underpass hits traffic

Gurugram : Commuters on MG Road and Delhi-Gurugram Expressway faced traffic snarls on Saturday, a day after a section of newly built underpass at Iffco Chowk was damaged in the rain.

The concrete slabs of the underpass, heading from Iffco Chowk metro station to MG Road, collapsed due to water logging on Friday morning. The 800-meter underpass, constructed at the cost of Rs 23 crore by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), was opened four months ago.

Due to collapse of slabs, a car got trapped in the underpass. It was pulled out with the help of a crane. Traffic officials suspect that wall of the underpass may soon collapse due to sub-standard construction.

The traffic to the underpass was stopped on Saturday to repair the damage. "We have used concrete and steel materials to fill the gap. It will soon be operational," said Ashok Sharma, senior NHAI official.

He said evacuation points were choked causing water logging, which damaged the concrete materials. Meanwhile, a section of road connecting Dwarka Expressway towards Jhajjar and Sultanpur national park collapsed near Basai on Saturday afternoon when a brick-laden truck was passing through.

According to a traffic official, rain had damaged the road. The rear wheels of the truck got trapped, leading to the collapse. Heavy rains led to traffic snarls in many areas in Delhi on Saturday, causing inconvenience to people on weekend outings, officials said. The Delhi Traffic Police gave people updates about traffic snarls through Twitter.

There were traffic snarls in Bakkarwala Mod, on Rohtak Road near Mundka-Rajdhani Park metro station, Nangloi Chowk to Najafgarh road and Nangloi chowk Pani Ki Tanki due to waterlogging, the police said. The traffic was also affected near AIIMS Hospital as resident doctors were protesting against the National Medical Commission Bill.