Gurugram: A large portion of the surface road on the Sohna highway caved in on Monday evening leaving 20 square feet gaping hole, which was barricaded by the highway maintenance company. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said that this was the fifth time the highway had caved in at the same stretch due to a damaged master sewage line, which is in very poor condition. A portion of the surface road on the Sohna highway caved in on Monday evening leaving 20 square feet gaping hole. (HT PHOTO)

The road has been barricaded and signages installed for commuters to avoid the stretch, they added.

An official of the highway project contractor, Oriental Engineering, said that just a few days earlier, GMDA officials had repaired a similar damaged stretch of sewage pipeline near Shishpal Vihar and asked them to repair the road. “The sinkhole is 5 feet by 4 feet and is quite large. It happened on Monday evening at the same place where the road was damaged last year. The sewage drain under the Sohna Road is almost 20 years old and in bad shape. It needs to be reconstructed or repaired,” the official said.

NHAI project director, Yogesh Tilak, said that they had brought the matter to the notice of GMDA. “We had asked the GMDA for permanent repairs earlier and we will do it again today. It is the fifth time the road has collapsed,” he said.

A senior GMDA official, who is aware of the matter, said that they have decided to carry out permanent repairs to the damaged sewage pipeline, which is quite old to prevent any further recurrence of such incidents. “The tender for the project will be floated again. This master sewage pipeline will be repaired through the CIPP technology,” the official said.