Another road cave-in incident reported from Dwarka

Dwarka: Another incident of a deep road cave-in was reported from Sector 18 in Dwarka. It is located near Crescent Apartments, near a triangular green patch along the slip road towards master plan road 205. The location is about 250 meters away from the spot where a car caved in on Monday evening.

As informed by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) workers, the cave-in happened at Crescent Chowk on Monday. The residents said that a similar cave-in had happened just opposite to the present cave at the triangular green patch in 2019.

Madhu Dagar, a social activist and resident of Crescent Apartments, said, “This is unfortunate that such mishaps are happening in our sector. Both the cave-in incidents were dangerous. I am surprised that despite my complaints to the DJB in 2019, the work on the entire stretch from Crescent Chowk to Atulya Chowk and further till the sewage treatment plant has not been done. Immediate action is needed to avoid this in future.”

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Both the cave-in locations are close to residential societies. The cave-in location at Atulya Chowk is about 20-25 meters away from the boundary walls of Atulya Apartments whereas Crescent Apartments is about 10-20 meters away from the cave-in spot at Crescent Chowk.

A social and RTI activist of Dwarka, Ramesh Mumukshu, who has been following up the matter, said, “A detailed survey should be done in the stretches where there are DJB and sewer pipelines and where excavation work has happened earlier. This is a serious situation and must be addressed urgently.”

Looking at the caved-in portion at Atulya Chowk, it can be ascertained that leaks in a drain with forceful and continuous flow of water caused the soil to lose its grip, resulting in the massive cave-in.

One of the civil engineers, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Such cave-in happens all of a sudden and that is its nature. It happens because of the drain or underground pipeline and if the restoration work is not done properly after laying of the pipeline. It is possible that some joints of the storm water drain would have been left unattended. During monsoons, the soil would have washed away due to heavy leakages through those joints. This erosion could prove dangerous during rains. The cave-in happens due to hollowness below the surface. This is sheer negligence at the time of laying of the pipeline. It happens due to lack of coordination among the departments.”

Officials from both the DJB and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) visited the cave-in locations on Tuesday. They took the subject into concern. Both the areas have been cordoned off for the safety of people.