New storm drains to manage monsoon traffic mess

GURGAON: Industry authority HSIIDC has finally announced plans to lay down new storm-water drains in Udyog Vihar, days before the monsoon season is expected to hit this region.
After last week's bout of rainfall - on Thursday afternoon - the sector roads in the industrial area saw heavy water-logging, which soon created an unmanageable traffic situation here.Traffic jams stretched all the way from the NH8 into Udyog Vihar's busy sector roads and took several hours to be resolved.
The officials now claim that this wouldn't become a regular occurrence here. The oncoming monsoon season, they say, would not have that adverse an impact on the existing infrastructure of Udyog Vihar.
"There are some roads that already have storm water drains here, and some that don't have them. We have already finalized the plans to install new drainage systems on these stretches in all our areas. So water-logging would not be a problem in the future," said an HSIIDC official.
The project to install new drains in the industrial areas will soon be commissioned out to private contractors and, according to officials, it has been sanctioned a budget of around Rs 12 lakh.
According to local entrepreneurs, the sector road connecting Shyam Chowk to Jwala Mill becomes among the most vulnerable of all stretches, and especially so in this season. Even slight rainfall can lead to water-logging on this road, which, apart from being badly built, is also too narrow to accommodate traffic volume.
"We have appealed to the HSIIDC time and again that they should widen this particular sector road, but nothing has yet been done about it," said Raj Singla of the Udyog Vihar Chamber of Industries. The local association has also written to the HSIIDC demanding that proper upgrades be carried out on all the key stretches and operational storm-water drains be installed where required.