A school bus which was not ferrying students also got stuck in the large pothole, after which that part of the road near Subash Chowk was barricaded, police officials said.

According to NHAI officials, the reason for the cave in is an underground sewage pipeline which flows under the main carriageway. The pipeline is old and dilapidated and it has collapsed for the second time in the last seven months, they said.

Earlier on December 24, 2023, the sewage pipeline had collapsed near the same location opposite the SD Adarsh Vidyalaya due to which the Sohna Road was damaged and two lanes remained closed for several weeks.

The present location, where the road has caved in, is around 40 feet away from where it had collapsed last year, said GMDA officials.

Eyewitnesses said that a school bus, which did not have students on board at that time got stuck in the large pothole at about 4.30pm. The bus was removed from the spot later by the Gurugram traffic police, which barricaded the road.

Inspector Rajbir Singh, traffic in-charge, Sohna Road said that immediately after getting information they brought in a crane and removed the bus. “Fortunately, there was no student inside the bus. The damaged lane has been barricaded to prevent a similar incident,” he said.

Yogesh Tilak, project director, NHAI said that they had received information about the damage to the road on Tuesday afternoon after which they approached the GMDA and district administration to get the sewage pipeline repaired at the earliest. “The location where the collapsed happened is close to the point where the road had caved in last year. The sewage pipeline belongs to GMDA and we have asked the authority to take immediate action and get this pipeline repaired through CIPP technology. We are also writing to the district administration regarding this matter,” he said.

GMDA officials, meanwhile, said that they were informed about the matter and were taking corrective measures.

Rajesh Bansal, chief engineer, GMDA said that they have sent the maintenance team and other GMDA officials to the area, who have inspected the damaged spot. “We have deployed our maintenance team and the repair will be carried out on war footing. If the need arises, the authority will strengthen the entire pipeline under the main carriageway using CIPP technology. We are working with the highway authority to resolve this issue,” he said.

A senior GMDA official, who was at the location, however, said that NHAI while constructing the road should have either got the sewage pipeline shifted from under the main carriageway or strengthened it using CIPP technology. “The highway authority at the time of construction of the road did not take any such step. In order to ensure cost cutting, the authority preferred to lay the main carriageway over the existing utilities and now the blame is being put on us,” he said.

According to GMDA officials, the master sewage drain under the Sohna Road runs for about 100 metres under the main carriageway and after that it turns towards the service road. The pipeline is around 15 feet deep and it carries sewage water from large areas along the Sohna Road till the Golf Course extension road.