Aurobindo Road to be closed till June-end

Sunday, June 7, 2009
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The ordeal of commuters braving the jams at the Aurobindo Marg diversion is likely to be prolonged. Unable to locate the leakage in the stormwater drain, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has written to Delhi Traffic Police stating that the road will have to be closed till June 30 to carry out the repairs.

Till then, the jams will continue on the stretch as vehicles taking the busy artery have been diverted onto a colony road in Green Park. Aurobindo Marg has been closed since June 2 after a stormwater drain started leaking into an under-construction Delhi Metro tunnel causing the main road to cave in. The leakage was caused due to backflow of water into the drain, after which DMRC had decided to identify all the leakage points and plug them.

"Vehicles headed towards AIIMS from IIT side have to take a compulsory left turn from the Hauz Khas signal and have been diverted on to the Green Park market road. This traffic then comes out on Aurobindo Marg at the Green Park gurdwara. Those headed for August Kranti Marg can take a right turn from IIT flyover and go via Panchsheel,'' said Rupinder Kumar, DCP (traffic), southern range.

Meanwhile, DMRC managing director E Sreedharan visited the stretch on Saturday morning and inspected the work. At present, the MCD has closed the drain and diverted all the water into a partially ready tunnel. "With the help of eight heavy duty pumps, the water is being channelised into a constructed Metro tunnel. It is flowing into another stormwater drain at Hauz Khas. We are trying to rectify the problem before June 30 and have asked for the traffic diversion to remain in place till then. Work is going on round the clock to open the stretch at the earliest possible,'' said a DMRC spokesperson.

But even as the flow of water into the brick drain which is reportedly almost 100 years old has been stopped, the points of leakages are not known. DMRC is trying to speed up work as engineers are afraid that if the monsoon rain arrives, the backflow of water could even lead to flooding in the colonies around as it is a low-lying area. The blockage at Gautam Nagar is also being inspected by DMRC engineers who are trying to find a solution to the mess caused due to covering of an open nullah by MCD.

The civic body had covered an open stormwater drain in Gautam Nagar and replaced it with a closed 1200 mm diameter drain to carry sewage of three pipes, each of a 1800 mm diameter. After one day of overnight rain, the obvious backflow in the network led to part of Aurobindo Marg road caving in on April 31. The road was reopened on June 2, only to be closed a few hours later after three more leaks sprung up in the lines because of the backflow. The entire road is being dug up to a depth of about five metres to check the drain.