Rs 777-Crore Pragati Maidan Tunnel Beyond Repair, Needs Overhaul: Report

The Pragati Maidan tunnel in Delhi is beyond repair and needs a major overhaul, The Hindu cited a senior Delhi government official as saying. A delay in the tunnel's completion and negligence in maintenance has led to cracks in the tunnel, the PWD official was quoted as saying. The structure is not safe for commuters anymore and it cannot be repaired without a complete revamp, he said.

The Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD) issued a notice to Larsen and Toubro over alleged "glaring infirmities" in the Rs 777-crore tunnel. The department has also demanded Rs 500 crore as a "token amount" from L&T, prompting a counterclaim of a similar amount from the construction firm. The government department has also directed the company to immediately begin repair work.

Speaking about the leaks and cracks in the tunnel it built, the spokesperson of L&T said, "The PWD is our respected client. We have happily worked with them for years. L&T wishes to inform the company has filed a claim of Rs 500 crore against PWD."

The tunnel, built just a little over a year ago, has developed seepage issues with water leaking from the walls. A stream of water is seen coming from the middle of the road, inundating the tunnel, and there are cracks in the tunnel walls.

The road has also developed massive cracks, NDTV's ground report showed. The tunnel has now become quite dangerous for the people using it given the leaks at several places.

Archit Singh, an urban planning expert, said, "There seems to be an issue of waterproofing. It seems that soil testing was not done properly. First of all, the use of this tunnel should be stopped. The government should form a fact-finding team of geological experts, architects, tunnel engineers, and structural engineers. The team should find the reasons for leakage and cracks and figure out if the tunnel can be repaired and how."

The tunnel and five underpasses form the Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor Project which aims to ease connectivity between central Delhi with the eastern parts of the city and the nearby cities of Noida and Ghaziabad.

The 1.3-km tunnel, inaugurated in 2022, faced multiple closures during floods last year.

Pointing to this, another official said all underground tunnels develop leakages and blamed L&T, the company entrusted with its maintenance, for not undertaking repair work despite being asked to multiple times in the past two months.

The PWD notice to L&T alleged the project has "glaring infirmities" that were both technical in nature and also design flaws. "The most glaring as well as alarming issue was the accumulation of water across various locations in the tunnel/underpass," it noted.

"This issue, especially during the monsoon season, rendered the entire project non-operational for the general public and ultimately ended up causing far more blockages and congestion along the arterial roads of the entire New Delhi area which defeated the very purpose of this ambitious project," the notice stated.

In its show-cause notice, the PWD asked L&T to deposit a "minimum token amount" of Rs 500 crore and begin repair work immediately.