The Times of India  24.08.2010

NEW DELHI: The daily incidents of road cave-ins have sent alarm bells ringing. On Monday, Harsukh Dev Marg near R K Khanna Stadium caved-in. The road had been relaid by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) more than a year back. According to the civic agency, the road, like many others in the city, gave way due to continuous work of laying underground pipes using trenchless technology.

A road near D-block at Vasant Vihar had also caved-in late on Sunday and the road near Millennium Park has also been settling over the past few days. MCD officials claim many agencies take permission for laying cables using trenchless technology but make use of other technologies which are far cheaper and involve extensive digging of pits. Said an MCD official: “Many agencies have taken permission for laying of cables using trenchless technology but use another technology — which is far cheaper — that involves digging pits at regular intervals. This leads to widespread damage.”

Besides this, the change of policy from dig and restore — by which the agency carrying out digging would restore the road — has been changed. The new policy involves just paying a deposit before carrying out digging work. Said an MCD official: “The work of restoring the road becomes our responsibility in such a scenario. With so much digging taking place in the city, it becomes impossible to ensure proper restoration of a particular stretch.”

Said an official: “Harsukh Marg was in good condition but caved-in due to the work being carried out by various agencies like IGL, BSES, BSNL, etc, for laying of underground cables and wires. Due to improper restoration of the stretch, water seeped in continuously leading to the road caving-in. Another problem is that, different agencies carry out work according to their convenience as a result of which the road becomes weaker.” In Vasant Vihar also, the cave-in was a result of a discom placing underground cable for installing streetlights there.