Prateek Tanmay
Roads turn into rivers, commuters are left stranded, and vehicles submerged. Come monsoon, this scene plays out every year across Gurgaon’s key roads such as Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and stretches of National Highway-48.
This year, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is banking on a new Rs 105-crore stormwater drain to prevent a repeat, officials said Saturday.
The newly commissioned 4.3-km Leg-4 drain, which became operational just as the monsoon reached Delhi-NCR, is designed to divert excess rainwater away from the overburdened Badshahpur drain — the city’s main stormwater channel that has long been blamed for flooding across southern Gurgaon.
Why does Gurgaon flood every year though?
The problem is the city’s topography as well as rapid urbanisation. All it takes is a brief spell of intense rainfall to turn chronic hotspots like Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, and the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway (NH-48) into bottlenecks.
Because the city lies in a topographical depression, massive surface runoff from the Aravalli foothills rapidly converges into the Badshahpur drain. During peak rainfall, this runoff exceeds the drain’s capacity, causing it to overflow and inundate the surrounding sectors.
Is there a solution?
To structurally address this, the GMDA’s new Leg-4 drain acts as a parallel channel, allowing excess water to bypass the overloaded Badshahpur drain during heavy rain.
Constructed at a cost of Rs 105 crore, the reinforced cement concrete (RCC) box drain has a carrying capacity of 1,400 cusecs.
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How does it work?
The Leg-4 drain stretches 4.3 km from Vatika Chowk to Sector 37D, eventually merging back with the Badshahpur drain near the Ramprastha Society.
A regulatory gate has been installed at Vatika Chowk to manage this diversion. During intense downpours, excess stormwater that would typically overflow from the Badshahpur drain can now be routed into this new channel.
The new channel will serve as a dedicated drainage line for the densely populated and commercial corridors along the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR).
Officials said the project will directly alleviate monsoon woes in key catchments, including Subhash Chowk, Bakhtawar Chowk, Mayfield Garden Road, Gurugram University Road, Artemis Hospital Road, Kanhai Chowk, Sector 44, and Sectors 68 to 80.
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Will it actually help?
While GMDA Chief Executive Officer PC Meena stated that the project shifts focus from temporary palliatives to long-term flood control infrastructure, the ultimate test of the Leg-4 drain lies in how effective it is when it rains.
On Sunday, when the city received 35 mm of rain, the drain’s effectiveness was put to a limited test, though the rainfall was not intense.
Hero Honda Chowk–Umang Bhardwaj Road, Subhash Chowk, the Subhash Chowk–Hero Honda corridor, AIT Chowk, Artemis Road, Lotus Valley School Road, Atul Kataria Chowk, the SPR–Vatika Chowk to Masjid Road stretch, Sheetla Mata Road and Kapashera Border, saw minimal waterlogging that was addressed as the showers receded.
What about other areas prone to flooding?
Regarding chronic bottlenecks like Hero Honda Chowk and Rajiv Chowk, GMDA spokesperson Neha Sharma said that these will be handled by the respective drains near them.
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“For Hero Honda Chowk, we are building the Narsinghpur drain along the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway that is scheduled for completion before peak monsoon. For Rajiv Chowk, the construction of a Rs 4.75 crore 1.1-km storm water drain connecting Tau Devi Lal stadium drain near Rajiv Chowk-Medanta underpass stretch with the master storm water drain on Sohna Road will be completed soon, which will divert rainwater towards the Sohna Road master drain and Badshahpur main drain.”
“We are confident of preventing any prolonged waterlogging post heavy/torrential rainfall, with the runoff draining much faster due to another master drain,” Sharma stressed.
Can the new infra withstand a heavy downpour?
Asked if the new drainage infrastructure will be able to withstand 100 mm of rain in a couple hours, senior officials said it depends on the area the rainfall is concentrated in and runoff.
“The areas along the Badshahpur and Leg 4 drains should be able to sufficiently handle normal rainfall and not see waterlogging beyond the time to drain,” an official said.
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However, 100 mm or more of rain in just a few hours will need supplemented efforts including pumps and suction pipes along arterial roads.
Consequently, despite the Rs 105-crore investment, older pockets of the city (plotted colonies of the HSVP) are expected to remain vulnerable this season, specifically, officials indicated.
Gurgaon’s stormwater drainage network includes three other main drains — Leg-I (Sikanderpur to Najafgarh), Leg-II (Sector 42 to Najafgarh), and Leg-III (Ghata village to Najafgarh.
The GMDA reduced waterlogging points from 90 in 2019 to 30 by 2024 through projects like new drains at Narsinghpur and Khandsa Chowk, with the Leg 4 drain now expected to reduce this number further.
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Corporation efforts
To supplement these upgrades with on-ground readiness, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) operationalised a 24×7 monsoon management call centre on Thursday.
The control room uses a grid of CCTV cameras installed at sensitive intersections to monitor real-time surface water accumulation.
As soon as rainfall commences, call centre staff coordinate directly with zonal field teams to deploy heavy machinery — super sucker machines, jetting machines, and high-capacity dewatering pumps — to clear localised blockages.
