In a first in Haryana, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has used the Disaster Management Act 2005 to solve man made disaster and to resolve the long pending dispute over 33 meters of Badshahpur drain which caused flood like situation during monsoon season in Gurugram.
The GMDA officials said once the construction work of the drain is completed, the capacity of rain water discharge will be increased by 2300 cusecs from the present 800 cusecs and it will bring huge relief near the Hero Honda Chowk on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway because during rain this area of the city used to face flood like situation every year. The officials said the matter was resolved after an intervention of Sudhir Rajpal, Chief Executive Officer of the GMDA. GMDA's Chief Engineer Pradeep Kumar said that this Badshahpur drain which was passed through almost middle of Gurugram City from Ghata village through Khandsa village and finally emerged in Najafgarh drain. "The 26 km long Badshahpur drain helps to clear about 60% rain water from Gurugram. The total capacity of its water discharge was 2300, cusecs and due to the dispute on this 33 meters bottleneck the discharge of rain water at this point was only 800 cusecs and due to this the people used to face huge water volume during downpour," Kumar said.
According to Kumar, looking at a widespread public interest, Rajpal wrote a letter to the deputy commissioner Gurugram Yash Garg, that he passed an order to build the drain under the Disaster Management Act 2005. Its aim was to get rid of the flood situation during every rainy season.
The officials said the GMDA's top official observed that it was a human-borne disaster, due to which the Gurugram residents face huge water problem every year. This will be the first time in Haryana state when the disaster management act has been used to solve the human-borne disaster.
Kumar said that according to the instructions of GMDA's CEO, Deputy Commissioner of Gurugam an order was released to build the drain under the DM Act. These orders were also challenged in the High Court by the land owner but the court also said that after giving compensation according to the award given in 2006, the GMDA will take its position.
Superintendent Engineer of the GMDA Rajesh Bansal said that possession of land has been taken and work of construction of drain has been started which is likely to completed by 1st week of July, 2021.