The location of Gurugram’s proposed Subhash Chowk Metro station and its entry and exit gates has been finalised, but the planned access points are near areas that have repeatedly experienced severe monsoon waterlogging, according to a report by Live Hindustan – NCR.
Gurugram Metro Rail Limited (GMRL) has identified land near Subhash Chowk on the Gurugram-Sohna Highway for the elevated station and has installed a notice board at the site. The station is planned in front of Tarun Society in Sector 47, on the route from Millennium City Centre towards Subhash Chowk.
The station structure is expected to begin near the Subhash Chowk flyover, run for about 180 metres and end around 40 metres before the intersection. The first entry and exit gate is planned just before ILD Mall, while the second is proposed in Sector 38, about 80 metres from Sadar police station. Both access points are expected to be developed in green areas and will require approximately 824 square metres of land from the Haryana Urban Development Authority.
The access arrangements are significant because the proposed locations are close to areas where heavy rain has disrupted traffic and stranded commuters. The report said water reached around 2.5 feet near Sadar police station during rainfall on 24 August. Subhash Chowk and the stretch towards Malibu Town also experienced major waterlogging during the previous year’s monsoon.
The earlier flooding had direct consequences for local mobility. Around 20 school buses reportedly broke down at Subhash Chowk, leaving nearly 400 children stranded for about four hours. Some parents had to retrieve their children while moving through the floodwater, while office workers in the surrounding area used tractor-trolleys to reach Millennium City Centre Metro station. The report said the district administration faced criticism over the difficulty of clearing the stranded buses.
GMRL’s position on the waterlogging risk at the proposed station entrances was not available in the report. P.C. Meena, chief executive officer of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, said adequate drainage measures had been taken during the monsoon and that water had accumulated at Subhash Chowk only temporarily. He said a permanent solution to the waterlogging problem was being developed and that additional traffic police personnel would be deployed at important intersections during rainfall.
Construction on the Old Gurugram Metro corridor is already progressing in some sections. A company assigned the construction work last August has been given three years to complete the project and begin operations. U-girders have been placed over roughly 500 metres near the proposed Sector 45 station, while work between Hero Honda Chowk and Umang Bhardwaj Chowk has slowed over about 2.4 kilometres because of obstacles. Limited construction has been reported between Umang Bhardwaj Chowk and Basai, where two foot overbridges are among the stated constraints.
The Subhash Chowk station could also become an interchange point if the proposed Bhondsi-to-railway-station metro project moves ahead. The Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation has assigned RITES the task of preparing the detailed project report for that proposed corridor. The next implementation issue for the Subhash Chowk station will be ensuring that its access gates remain usable during heavy rainfall while construction and drainage measures proceed.
