Rain flushes out officials' claims at Hero Honda Chowk

GURGAON: Before the monsoon, the MCG had claimed that the Hero Honda Chowk will be free of waterlogging this year. But Monday's rain flushed out their claims with rain water flooding the area in no time. The MCG, however, blamed the HUDA and the DSC Ltd — which manages the expressway — for the mess, and said that they were supposed to provide pumps to drain out water in that area, which they failed to do.
Interestingly, former MCG commissioner Rajesh Khullar had made a bold announcement last October claiming that water stagnation at this busy intersection would become a thing of the past. He had told reporters that the excess sewage water which used to accumulate at Hero Honda Chowk would be pumped out with the help of 30MLD submersible pump.
However, just 6mm of rainfall on Monday was enough to flood the entire stretch jeopardizing commuters, especially motorcyclists and pedestrians.
MCG commissioner Sudhir Rajpal said that he could not comment on any such announcement and added that the pump was installed by HUDA and the matter fell under their jurisdiction. Hero Honda Chowk remained waterlogged till late Tuesday evening, 24 hours after the rain had stopped. Due to this the traffic moved at snail's pace throughout the day. A traffic cop said that senior HUDA officials including its chief Nitin Yadav visited the spot to take stock of the situation. A senior HUDA official, meanwhile, said that ongoing work on sewerage and storm water drains at Khandsa Chowk meant that the drains had to be sealed as water could not be released there. This, according to him, has led to the waterlogging. He added that the work would be completed by Tuesday night.
A DSC spokesman said that as a concessionaire, it had limited jurisdiction over this problem. However, in order to help clear the accumulated water, seven high-pressure pumps with a capacity of 10HP each were installed, he said.