Flooding in New Chandigarh: GMADA to expedite construction of bridges on road near cricket stadium

The 8 km road, which connects the UT boundary at Dadumajra to New Chandigarh and Kurali-Siswan Road, was constructed around two years ago at a cost of around Rs 2 crore for increasing connectivity in the newly-developed New Chandigarh — the dream project of the previous SAD-BJP government.

A GMADA officer told Chandigarh Newsline it had already planned to construct three bridges on the road and the process of preparing the plans and formalities to issue tenders has already been completed.

“A causeway was made on the road for flow of water but due to heavy rain, bushes got stuck in the causeway and stopped the flow of water. The flow was fast, due to which a portion of the road was damaged,” the officer added.

Local residents said water from the Dadumajra river was collected and directed to a choe (seasonal stream), due to which the entire area was flooded.

Arvind Puri, a resident of New Chandigarh, told Newsline that with development of the area, the choes had vanished, but this time due to heavy rain, the rivulets were again flooded.

“There are many housing complexes near the stadium. If a permanent solution is not found, water could enter them. This time we saw choes that had not been active for years full of rain water,” Puri added.