Gurgaon: Residents of New Colony are struggling to navigate a long stretch of road that has been dug up for the construction of a stormwater drain, turning a busy neighbourhood thoroughfare into a muddy and hazardous passage. The problem worsened after rain on Wednesday, when a car got stuck in the dug-up portion.Residents said the work began nearly a month ago but has progressed slowly, leaving the stretch in a state of disrepair. They claimed MCG has deployed only two to three labourers at the site, resulting in little visible progress.Dikshu Arora, who runs a garment shop in the area, said, “Road and sewerage work has been going on for nearly a month, but the pace of construction has been extremely slow. There has been virtually no visible improvement in the last 10 days. The road remains in a deplorable condition, with sewage water flowing through open drains and accumulating on the road. Whenever it rains, the water overflows onto the road, making matters worse for both residents and shopkeepers.”He added that the mud and stagnant water were discouraging customers from visiting the shops. “Customers find it difficult to reach our shops because of the mud, damaged road and stagnant water. This is directly affecting our businesses. We understand that development work is necessary, but keeping the area in such a condition for weeks without visible progress is causing considerable hardship. Shopkeepers and residents cannot be expected to bear the consequences of prolonged construction indefinitely,” Arora said.MCG officials, however, said rain had disrupted the work and that it would be completed in two weeks. “We had planned to complete the drain and road recarpeting before Diwali, but rainfall has slowed down the construction,” assistant engineer Naim Hussain said.Officials said barricades had been installed to prevent vehicles from entering the construction zone, but commuters were removing them and putting themselves at risk by driving through the excavated stretch.Ward 32 councillor Vijay Parmar also attributed the delay to repeated rainfall and said commuters were hampering the work by removing barricades. He said the work had commenced around Oct 5 and was initially expected to be completed before Diwali.“The stretch was barricaded to prevent vehicles from entering the construction zone. However, commuters keep removing the barricades and driving through the area, creating difficulties for the workers. The pace of construction has also been affected by rainfall. We now expect the work to be completed within the next two weeks,” Parmar said.He added that the drain construction would be followed by recarpeting of the entire road, but work could not resume until the drain bed was dry and free of silt.“Rainwater has repeatedly disrupted the work. The drain bed needs to be completely dry and free of silt before construction can resume properly. Residents and commuters must also cooperate by not removing the barricades or entering the construction zone. We are aiming to complete the drain and recarpet the entire stretch within the revised timeline,” he said.
