In Haryana\’s Gurugram, a sinkhole of 12-foot depth has appeared on Sohna Highway. It is believed that an underground sewer line is to be blamed for this sinkhole. This section of the road will remain closed until it gets repaired as a precautionary measure towards public safety. The Sohna elevated road which stretches over 22 kilometers and connects Subhash Chowk with Badshahpur was inaugurated in July 2022. Last year in December at approximately the same place, another large hole had developed on this road.

As per the information given by Yogesh Tilak who is Project Director (Rewari) NHAI – “We have barricaded around the affected area and asked GMDA to repair damaged sewer immediately following which we will do patchwork again, but this time they should use CIPP technology for a permanent solution,” reported Times Of India.

GMDA officials were present at site visitation where they said the reason behind the damage will come out after excavation. According to Rajesh Bansal, Chief Engineer GMDA, prima facie, it looks like damage to sewer line; rectification measures are being taken & machinery along with man power has been deployed for repair works.

Hindustan Times reported that a school bus got stuck inside the big pothole which was empty at that time. Following this incident, authorities barricaded the affected area near Subhash Chowk.

Last time when there was a hole on the highway measuring 18 feet deep which brought traffic movement almost to stand still then NHAI had done repairs in March month; it had happened because the wall of the sewer chamber under the road caved-in.

Cause of Recurring Sinkholes

After Shankar Chowk, there is a 1,800-metre master sewer line that passes through elevated sections of the Sohna highway before ending at the Behrampur sewage treatment plant near Sector 47. During the construction of the highway, which is two decades old brick sewer chamber was not properly reinforced and that\’s why such incidents are happening again and again.

The GMDA officials have said that they would prepare an estimate for repairing the sewer line using CIPP technology so as to avoid any such incident in the future. Though the authority had considered moving the sewer line after the road collapse in December but it has not been done yet.

Commuters feel that crores of rupees have been spent on constructing this highway but planning and execution seem to be lacking somewhere. “Recurrent failures like these raise serious questions about quality control during the construction process; investigating authorities should identify lapses if any and fix responsibility accordingly – both GMDA & NHAI are blaming each other which is not right as ultimately citizens suffer,” said Siddharth Bhalla (Resident of Sector 48).