Rain brings Millennium City to its knees

Gurgaon faced a traffic nightmare due to heavy rainfall since Thursday. Several areas in the Millennium City were waterlogged and commuters were stuck for hours on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and National Highway-8.

The Haryana government declared a two-day holiday for local schools and the Gurgaon police issued an advisory telling people to avoid travelling to the city. Many offices also declared a holiday due to traffic woes.

Many motorists abandoned their vehicles and waded through knee-deep water which accumulated on both the carriageways of Delhi-Jaipur highway, bringing traffic to a standstill with the tailback extending up to 15-20 kilometres.

The heavy evening downpour on Thursday left commuters stranded — many without fuel and water — on their way back home from Gurgaon till well past midnight.

“People coming to Gurgaon from Delhi are advised to stay back today to avoid being stuck in traffic jams due to flooded roads,” the Gurgaon police tweeted.

Gurgaon deputy commissioner T.L. Satyaprakash said the police has imposed prohibitory orders near Hero Honda Chowk to ease traffic congestion. Hero Honda Chowk was submerged after heavy downpour on Thursday.

“Considering the unprecedented rainfall and the flow of huge volume of water due to downward gradient from Delhi towards Gurgaon, prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC have been imposed near Hero Honda Chowk in the city,” he said.

Mr Satyaprakash claimed that the local civic agency has been roped in to declog the area. Wherever the flow of water is obstructed due to encroachment, the concerned engineer will undertake removal of such encroachment on an urgent basis, he said.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar wanted to inspect Gurgaon, but his helicopter could not take off from Chandigarh because of bad weather. The BJP government blamed Delhi for Gurgaon chaos and said that a large amount of water exits the city through the Najafgarh drain, which flows through the capital, but is partly blocked, flooding Gurgaon.

Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia also took a dig at Mr Khattar over Gurgaon’s present situation. “Changing name of the city from Gurgaon to Gurugram will not lead to development. For development, you need to work on strategies,” he tweeted.

The chaos in Gurgaon started on Thursday after heavy rains that led to waterlogging near Hero Honda Chowk. The city saw massive jams as cars, buses and even two-wheelers were stuck for over four hours, especially on the Delhi-Jaipur stretch.

A team of NHAI deployed 100 labourers, 50 traffic cops, two tractors and three water-pumping sets to ease the waterlogging on the highway. It is also working closely with the local municipal corporation.

Earlier on Friday, Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu asked Mr Khattar to take urgent steps to deal with the situation.