School bus sinks as road caves in, traffic crawls: Gurgaon halts due to heavy rain

4 min readGurgaonUpdated: Jul 8, 2026 03:14 AM IST

The school bus, which was dropping children to their homes after school hours, got stuck near Sector 53 on Tuesday afternoon. It took close to an hour for sanitation workers and policemen to bring the bus out of the pit.

A school bus with children aboard sinking into a portion of road that had caved in; arterial corridors flooded outside Medanta Hospital, Baani Square, and Hero Honda Chowk; heavy waterlogging in upscale residential areas like Mayfield Gardens at Sector 51 and Ardee City at Sector 52, and traffic crawling  in various parts of the city. Another monsoon season brought another spell of ordeal to the Millenium City as Gurgaon halted to a grind on Tuesday amid heavy rain. Traffic personnel were seen wading through waterlogged stretches to minimise disruption.

The school bus, which was dropping children to their homes after school hours, got stuck near Sector 53 on Tuesday afternoon. It took close to an hour for sanitation workers and policemen to bring the bus out of the pit.

In another similar incident, a section of the road at Narsinghpur on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway caved in and the traffic police had to prepare diversions through Dwarka Expressway and Southern Peripheral Road. This slowed down traffic. Due to waterlogging, vehicles were also stuck in Civil Lines Road, the area where Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner and Badshahpur MLA and Haryana Minister Rao Narbir Singh lives.

As per official data, the district saw up to 82 mm of rain between 2 pm to 5pm.Apart from the usual hotspot of Sheetla Mata Road, the newly-laid master road at Sector 102 too got waterlogged.

Chaitali Mandhotra, a resident of Ardee City, expressed her anguish. “Thank you Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for cleaning the funds and not the drains,.”

Ruchika Sethi, a resident of Nirvana Country, said, “Gurgaon is one of the country’s biggest revenue generators, yet it is being viewed only as an investment destination, without matching investment in safe, functional infrastructure.  When will Gurgaon receive the infrastructure it deserves? People shouldn’t have to fear dangerous roads and flooded streets every monsoon, or endure poor air quality for the rest of the year. We deserve better.”

The civic agencies and other authorities, meanwhile, claimed that waterlogging was minimal. “Our engineering wing, sanitation teams, officials and other field staff were engaged in monitoring and clearing water at various locations amidst the rain. Tractor-mounted pumps, de-watering pumps, suction tankers, and other available machinery and resources were used as required. Field teams continued to work tirelessly despite the rain, “Due to better drainage connectivity and systems, the clearance of rainwater remained smooth in many places”, an MCG spokesperson said.

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The National Highways Authority of India in a statement on X said a portion of road had caved in at NH-48 was where the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) was carrying out pipe culvert pushing works.  “As a precautionary measure, two lanes of the highway have been immediately closed to ensure the safety of road users. Traffic management measures have been put in place, and the GMDA  team has reached the site to undertake restoration works. NHAI is extending all necessary support  to ensure safe movement of traffic. The situation is being continuously monitored,” it said.

A GMDA spokesperson said the agency’s efforts had delivered encouraging results, “with several key corridors witnessing swift evacuation of rainwater and minimal disruption to traffic.” However, it acknowledged what it termed “temporary water accumulation” reported at Sheetla Mata Road and on the Mayfield Gardens–Sispal Vihar stretch.  “Engineering teams were immediately deployed to undertake flood relief operations and restore normal conditions at these locations. These locations would be inspected and corrective measures would be undertaken to address the remaining bottlenecks. Our officers and engineering teams would continue round-the-clock monitoring, with personnel deployed at vulnerable locations to ensure timely response, effective stormwater management and uninterrupted traffic movement across the city.”‘

© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd

Abhimanyu Hazarika is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Gurgaon. He covers southern Haryana.

Education

- Post-Graduate Diploma in Print Media, Asian College of Journalism (Class of 2020)

- B.A. (Hons) Liberal Arts with a major in Political Science, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Class of 2019)

Professional Experience

Before joining The Indian Express, he worked with Bar & Bench (legal journalism) and Frontline magazine, where he developed experience in court reporting, legal analysis, and long-form investigative features.

Reporting Interests

His work centres on civic accountability, environmental policy, urban infrastructure and culture, crime and law enforcement, and their intersections with politics and governance in and around Gurgaon.

Recent Coverage (2025)

- Crime: Reported on the recovery of 350 kg of explosives and an AK-47 from a rented house in Faridabad, linked to the 2025 Red Fort car explosion case (November 11, 2025).

- Environmental policy: Covered protests outside a Haryana minister’s residence against a Supreme Court order that environmentalists argue could allow mining and real estate development on large parts of the Aravalli hills (December 21, 2025).

- Pollution control measures: Co-authored coverage of the Rekha Gupta government’s enforcement of vehicle restrictions at Delhi-NCR borders (December 21, 2025).

- Road safety and infrastructure: Examined response lapses in the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway hit-and-run case and ongoing investigations into high-speed road crimes in Gurugram.

- Animal welfare policy: Reported on concerns regarding the low budget allocated for stray dog sterilization by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (November 30, 2025).

- Urban culture: Featured the social media-driven popularity of a new Magnolia Bakery outlet in Gurugram (December 15, 2025).

Contact

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