As Gurgaon is rained out, Haryana CM ML Khattar accuses Arvind Kejriwal of non-cooperation
Khattar government has blamed Delhi for Gurgaon chaos saying that a large amount of water exits the Millennium City through the Najafgarh drain, which flows through Delhi but is blocked partly, flooding the city.
In Short
- Flooded roads caused heavy traffic jams in Gurgaon
- Haryana CM ML Khattar blamed Arvind Kejriwal of non-cooperation
- Nitin Gadkari NHAI to rush a team of officers to the area
With the Millennium City coming to a standstill following heavy rains leading to massive traffic jams, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today asked Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to take urgent steps to deal with the situation.
"I just spoke to Harayana CM and told him that this is an important city and international focus and attention is on it. All steps should be taken to clear the jams and they are on the job. The state administration is attending the problem on an emergency basis," Naidu said outside Parliament.
"The Haryana CM told me that he was taking up the issue at the highest level and has alerted the entire administration to ease out traffic congestion. Certain long term measures have also been planned and being worked out for the future," he said.
READ: Submerged Gurgaon asks Delhi to stay away: 10 latest updates
BLAME GAME
Haryana chief minister who wanted to visit Gurgaon to take stock of the situation couldn't do so as his helicopter could not take off from Chandigarh because of bad weather.
Khattar who is being heavily criticised on social media for Gurgaon's poor civic infrastructure, expressed his frustration with "non-cooperation by the Delhi government" tweet.
Mr. @ArvindKejriwal should be asked this.Frustrated by non-cooperation by Delhi Govt,we have got it declared as NH. https://t.co/LUJGj9lSwT Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) July 28, 2016
The BJP government in turn has blamed Delhi for Gurgaon chaos saying that a large amount of water exits the Millennium City through the Najafgarh drain, which flows through Delhi but is blocked partly, flooding the city.
Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also took a dig at Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar over Gurgaon's present situation.
He tweeted, "Changing name of the city from Gurgaon to Gurugram will not lead to development. For development you need to work on strategies. "
???????? ?? ??? ????????? ???? ?? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ??????? Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) July 29, 2016
Union Minister and Faridabad MP Krishnapal Gujjar stated that the Centre was taking all measures to rid Gurgaon of its traffic woes.
"It (congestion) is an old problem. But after our government assumed power, we have undertaken many steps to make Gurgram (Gurgaon) free of traffic jams. Work has already started and the tender process is on for it."
#Gurugram's new tourist attraction - Khattar Falls. pic.twitter.com/n5LfuKj9zO ? ? (@Hari_Ram_Nai) July 29, 2016
A spell of monsoon showers, which is welcomed otherwise, has brought the Millennium City to its knees due to severe water-logging resulting in long traffic jams, leaving millions of commuters, including office-goers, stranded, forcing the authorities to shut down schools in Delhi's satellite city while some offices too declared it an off.
Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to rush a team of officers to the area.
"Gadkari has asked the NHAI Chairman Raghav Chandra to immediately rush a team of senior officers to Gurgaon and personally monitor the situation. He has been asked to take all necessary steps in cooperation with the state authorities to ensure smooth flow of vehicles on NH (National Highway) eight," an official of the Road Transport Ministry said in a statement.
READ: Heavy downpour turns Gurgaon roads into rivers, traffic comes to a standstill
INADEQUATE SEWAGE SYSTEM TO BLAME
The International Road Federation (IRF) today expressed deep concern and called for concerted efforts, both long-term and short-term, to address the problem.
"Due to almost non-functioning of storm water drains and inadequate sewage system, Gurgaon roads get water-logged each Monsoon resulting in potholes, sometimes moon craters. Water accumulates at unexpected places spelling danger for both motorists and pedestrians," IRF Chairman K K Kapila said.
"Each year after the monsoon, these agencies tend to pass the buck and thereby virtually disowning their own responsibility, as a result there is acute water-logging, deep potholes, portions of the roads getting sub-merged and side-walks becoming unusable, causing immense hardship to the general public," he said.
NEED OF SEPARATE DRAINAGE SYSTEM
"With continued urbanisation, the drains are either choked or ineffective to carry the surface water to the deep storm water drains, which also lack adequate capacity. For this, a long-term solution with proper network of drainage lines with adequate capacity for storm water and sewage drains is an immediate necessity," he said.
"Delhi Metro Rail and Rapid Metro, Gurgaon, despite having rain water harvesting system on various routes, also need a separate drainage system to channelise rainwater released from the elevated tracks," Kapila said.
The prolonged jams threw the traffic out of gear as many motorists abandoned their vehicles and waded through knee-deep water on both the carriageways of Delhi-Jaipur road, including Hero Honda Chowk, bringing the traffic to a standstill with the tailback extending up to 15-20 KM.
Road network in Gurgaon encompasses different zones of authority like Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, Public Works Department, Haryana Urban Development Authority, private builders and the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway under the National Highways Authority of India.
- With inputs from agencies