Najafgarh drain stretch will get bundh to prevent waterlogging

To prevent waterlogging in Dharmpur village and condominiums in the area adjoining the Najafgarh drain, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) said it will construct the pending section of the drain to ensure that stormwater and treated water from the city does not spread to the agricultural fields in the area, nor enter the village.

GMDA officials said the land is available and there is no obstruction in the construction of the drain, which will prevent waterlogging on the streets and roads as well.

The drain, which passes near Dharmpur village, is called Leg 2 drain and it starts from Huda City Centre, passes through Sector 27/28, MDI Chowk, Atul Kataria Chowk/ Sheetla Mata Road, Sector 5, New Palam Vihar, Northern Peripheral Road, Daulatabad, Dharmpur and finally joins with Najafgarh drain.

Almost 20km of this drain has been constructed and a 550 metre stretch of this drain is pending near the village. Once that bit is constructed, it will likely end the waterlogging in the area, said officials.

The construction of this stretch is part of ₹400 crore project planned to prevent waterlogging on the Gurugram side of the entire Najafgarh drain. Around 3,500 acres were waterlogged in the villages of Gurugram this monsoon and sewage water often spills over to the fertile land, corrupting the soil and crops.

Gurugram has three major drains called Leg 1, Leg 2 and Leg 3 (also called Badshahpur drain).

The Leg 1 starts from Nathupur, and passes through DLF Phase 3, Udyog Vihar, Sector 23, Rotary Public School Rezangla Chowk, New Palam Vihar, railway track crossing, Bajghera, and finally joins the Najafgarh drain.

To connect Leg 2 drain with Najafgarh drain, the authority will construct the pending section of 550 metres, officials said.

Rajesh Bansal, chief engineer, GMDA, said their priority objective this year is to prevent waterlogging in Dharmpur village and adjoining areas. “The residents of this village have been suffering during the monsoon as water enters the streets and roads making life difficult. Our priority is to construct the pending portion of Leg 2 drain at a cost of ₹21 crore. A parallel work would be to construct a bundh along this village and this work will be carried out by the irrigation department,” he said.

GMDA officials said presently no bundh exists on the Najafgarh drain on Gurugram side and as a result waterlogging takes place when water overflows from Leg 2 and Leg 3 drains as these are not connected with Najafgarh drain.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, during the last meeting of the GMDA earlier this month, directed officials to take up the project for preventing waterlogging on priority. He also said after taking up the matter with the Delhi government, desilting work has started in Najafgarh drain and around 20,000 tonnes of silt has been removed.

GMDA officials said while desilting work has improved the capacity of the drain, they will take up the project in three phases to connect all city drains with Najafgarh drain and to build a bundh for added protection.

Bansal said there is no obstacle in competing the work on Leg 2.

“It will take around a year to complete this work and the bundh around Dharmpur will resolve the issue of waterlogging,” he said.

The authority further said in the second phase, the department will construct 3,450 metres of Leg 3 drain in two stages. In the first stage, 2,220 metres of the drain will be made functional and another 1,320 metres will be made functional in the second stage at a total cost of ₹162 crore.