NEW DELHI: A big portion of the busy intersection below the IIT flyover caved in on Saturday morning, forcing traffic police to immediately barricade the segment and divert traffic. Officials of the Public Works Department later said the gaping hole measured around 40 ft long and 15 ft deep, with the cave-in occurring when their teams were inspecting potholes on the roads in the morning.
“In the wake of the heavy rains of the past few days, our staff was conducting a survey of roads on Saturday morning,” said a PWD official. “They spotted a pothole at the IIT flyover intersection. When compacted, a huge chunk of the road suddenly collapsed. We immediately approached the traffic police and requested them to cordon off the affected portion of the road. Suspecting a leakage in a water pipeline, we called up Delhi Jal Board officials and enquired if this was a possibility. We could have filled the hole immediately, but until the cause is ascertained, we won’t do it.”
The official added, “After verification at the cave-in site, the DJB officials detected some leakage in the water supply line and said this could have been happening or a long time, explaining the deep cavity below the road. They immediately stopped the water supply and carried out repair exercises. The work continued till Saturday late at night. In the meantime, we have made arrangements to have the sunken portion filled with construction material as soon as the pipeline repair is completed. We should be able to open the road again by Sunday morning.”
As soon as the road collapsed, Delhi traffic police diverted vehicles coming from Adchini to Katwarai Sarai instead of going straight towards AIIMS on the Aurobindo Marg. They also urged commuters to avoid this stretch on social media. The police tweet said, “Traffic going from Adhchini to IIT has been diverted from Adhchini to Katwaria Sarai after a portion of a road near IIT red light caved in.”
A traffic police officer claimed, “Our staff swung into action as soon as the issue was reported. Still, it resulted in traffic congestion and we had to deploy additional staff to deal with the situation and to divert the traffic. The traffic was heavy on the stretch till night as DJB worked to repair the problem after cordoning off the entire portion. We will open the road only when the situation normalises.”
