Gurgaon residents want stormwater drain connected to creek

The residents of sectors 56 and 57 have written to the civic authorities to create a dedicated channel to carry rainwater and to connect stormwater drain to a water body in the area before monsoon arrives .

Residents made this request after a 30-minute rain on Monday created a flood-like situation on Golf Course Road because a creek overflowed on to the road.

The situation is alarming as the area used to have a large water body -- the Ghata lake -- which in the process of urbanization, got destroyed. However, water from the Ghata hill still takes the same route to enter the city, leading to the situation on Monday.

“The natural creek from Ghata hills does not have any space to flow as the proposed box drain is still incomplete and there is no proper connection between the creek and the drain. As a result, water overflows on the Golf Course Extension Road when it rains, resulting in traffic jams in the area,” Ajay Pandita, a resident of the area, said.

Earlier, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) had plans to construct a box drain in the area. The project was stalled after environmentalists opposed the move and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) put a ban on concreting drains in the area.

Green activists termed the process “ecologically disastrous” and said that this situation has occurred because the Huda never realised the gravity of the issue. They blamed the Huda and the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) for widespread concreting of natural drains because of which water fails to percolate into the ground.

Residents said the NGT had rightly pointed out that the box drain will increase the run-off and there will hardly be any percolation into the ground, thereby failing to recharge the groundwater table.

NS Yadav, a resident of the sector, said, “There is a dearth of water in Gurgaon and it seems that the state government neither has plans to make groundwater recharge mandatory nor to develop the existing ponds that were a major source of groundwater recharge.”

Residents wrote to the Huda demanding to connect the creek to stormwater drain in Sector 57 near Rajesh Pilot Chowk on Golf Course Extension Road.

The letter said, “…..it is requested to make alternate arrangements at this stage by cleaning the blocked area near the existing culverts on the road and opposite Pioneer Park.”

Environmentalists said given Monday’s situation, the city will be submerged if the monsoon is good. “Almost all the natural water channels have been destroyed by the builder-administration nexus through encroachments, construction and illegal dumping. This has irreversibly altered the pristine natural landscape, reducing it to a sub-optimal level,” Amit Chaudhery, a naturalist, said.