Brief Monday rain spell submerges Hero Honda Chowk once again

GURGAON: Hero Honda Chowk was again under water after a short spell of rain on Monday. The location of the chowk on the expressway is the lowest point in the city and floods every time it rains. Cars in long queues could be seen crawling through the waterlogged roads at the chowk since morning. Several vehicles broke down and pedestrians had to wade through knee-deep water to cross the roads. To add to the mess, the service lane was also submerged in water."Hero Honda Chowk is in the news every time it rains. Traffic on both the sides of the carriageway came to a halt. I was stuck in the jam for almost half an hour," said Rohit Bhatia, a regular commuter on the route.The service road and the main carriageway were flooded because of the overflowing pipeline which connects the sump well at Khandsa with the Badshapur drain on the expressway near Narsinghpur. Excess water from along the expressway as well as the Badshapur nallah is pumped into the sump well from where it is pumped out through a 30MLD submersible pump across the expressway. The sump well is operational for almost a year now.The civic bodies have long been promising to free Hero Honda Chowk of waterlogging. When asked, HUDA officials said that waterlogging happens because of sudden rain and the incomplete road repair work.Meanwhile, in the absence of any drainage system, the industries and villages nearby pump their water into the existing HUDA lines, adding to their existing load.To end waterlogging at Hero Honda Chowk, HUDA is connecting the chowk's drainage system with Najafgarh drain. "The under-construction HUDA stormwater drain running along Sector 9 and 10 peripheral road will be made functional in the coming weeks. This will help take the load off Hero Honda Chowk," said a senior HUDA official. Once the project is complete, it will be connected to the Najafgarh drain and will carry all the excess water flowing in from Sushant Lok II and III, South City II, Sohna Road and the Golf Course Extension Road (southern peripheral road).