Gurgaon: A portion of the service road of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway at IFFCO Chowk caved in on Tuesday, opening a 10-foot-wide sinkhole and disrupting traffic towards the U-turn flyover. Teams from GMDA and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) reached the site soon after the incident was reported. Police cordoned off the stretch as a precautionary measure.According to NHAI, preliminary observations suggested that a master sewer line runs beneath the damaged portion of the service road. Officials said the exact cause of the cave-in is yet to be ascertained, but leakage or damage to the underground sewer line may have caused soil erosion and created a void under the road. “The area has been cordoned off and safety measures have been put in place. Preliminary inspection indicated that there was some leakage in sewer line below the affected portion. The agency is examining the line to ascertain whether leakage or damage has caused the cave-in. Once the issue with the underground utility is rectified, the road will be restored,” an NHAI official said.IFFCO Chowk is one of the city’s busiest traffic junctions. The flyover at junction was completed in 2019 as part of a project launched in 2016 to reduce congestion on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. A GMDA official said a 1,000mm-diameter master sewer line passes below the stretch that caved in. The agency has been asked to deploy pumping machinery and other equipment to dewater the area before carrying out rectification work. “The exact cause of the leakage and cave-in will be ascertained after dewatering and inspection of the sewer line. The team will assess the extent of damage before deciding the repair work and the time required,” the official said.The sewer is an old GMDA master line that carries sewage to Behrampur treatment plant. The official said it has not yet undergone cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) rehabilitation.Traffic towards the U-turn flyover has been affected for commuters coming from MG Road and IFFCO Chowk and heading towards Delhi or Sukhrali. With the damaged portion barricaded, commuters going towards Delhi must take a U-turn from Sukhrali before proceeding to the capital.The incident has again drawn attention to the condition of underground sewer infrastructure at IFFCO Chowk. The junction has seen similar cave-ins in the past, including in Aug 2020 and 2019, with sewer infrastructure linked to earlier road and structural failures.In 2021, a portion of the retaining wall of IFFCO Chowk flyover collapsed after a sewerage pipeline passing underneath the flyover was damaged following heavy rainfall. Water accumulation caused by the damaged pipeline weakened the structure.The sewer line was supposed to be shifted before the flyover was built. However, the shifting was not carried out at the time despite payment being released. It was later shifted in 2022, after part of the retaining wall had collapsed.The latest cave-in comes weeks after a section of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway near Narsinghpur caved on July 7, triggering a major traffic jam. On Aug 10, a portion of Sohna Road near Adarsh School caved in after a dumper carrying construction material got stuck. On Aug 7, continuous rain caused a road cave-in near the IFFCO Chowk underpass.Gurgaon has also reported road cave-ins at other locations after heavy rain, with officials attributing several incidents to leakage from underground utilities. Officials said prolonged and intense rainfall can increase water pressure around underground infrastructure, while leaks can wash away soil and create voids beneath roads.
