The Gurugram administration issued an order on Tuesday forbidding school buses from operating on waterlogged routes.
The order states that safe alternative routes must be used in such cases. The situation was compounded by stranded vehicles, school buses, and ambulances on waterlogged stretches. Golf Course Road, including stretches outside The Magnolias and The Camellias, Sohna Road and other major corridors, were also inundated, forcing commuters to drive slowly through deep water and backing up traffic considerably. Several school vans broke down on Sheetla Mata Road, leaving children stranded for hours until their parents arrived to pick them up. At Subhash Chowk near Rail Vihar, school buses were stranded. “Gurugram is not capable of surviving even three hours of downpour.
Gurugram tehsil recorded 75 mm of rainfall between 8am and 3pm, while the India Meteorological Department’s Gurugram North Cap University station logged 38 mm of rain from 8.30am to 5.30pm on Monday, according to the district administration. Waterlogging was reported at several key junctions and on arterial roads with traffic, particularly around Rajiv Chowk, Narsinghpur, IFFCO Chowk, Sirhaul border, NH-48, Sohna Road, Sheetla Mata Road, and parts of Old Gurugram. Malibu Town, Sector 49, MG Road and the Gurugram bus depot were severely waterlogged, bringing traffic to a standstill. At least 14 buses were stuck at Subash Chowk for over four hours on Monday, forcing drivers and staff to carry children to the roadside. Taruna Bhatia, a Sector 70 resident, said her child had been stuck since 1pm. Reema Srivastava said her child, a class 4 student, and her classmates were stuck at Subash Chowk for over three hours.
Dhankot Village road was barricaded due to heavy waterlogging. As a result, residents said their children reached home hours later than usual.
School buses have been banned on routes declared waterlogged, according to the order issued by the Gurugram district disaster management authority. “Our children have been stranded on waterlogged roads, and it is very worrying,” she said. It is a matter of our children’s safety,” she said.
If no safe alternative route is available, children will be kept safe within the school premises, and parents will be immediately informed, the order added.
