What caused Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway cave-in that choked traffic

4 min readUpdated: Jul 8, 2026 03:38 PM IST

A section near Narsinghpur on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway caved in after heavy rain on Tuesday. (Express Photo)

Traffic crawled for kilometres on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on Wednesday as repair work continued on a section near Narsinghpur that caved in after heavy rain.

On Tuesday, the cave-in, caused by pipeline work and the rain, disrupted one of the NCR’s busiest arterial roads. Authorities had barricaded two lanes on the Jaipur-bound carriageway, triggering major traffic congestion during peak hours.

On Wednesday, some employees of nearby factories and Bestech Cyber Park chose to walk the final stretch given the slow traffic. “It was taking very long to cross so we have decided to go on foot,” two professionals said, navigating a muddy part of the service road.

Dharm Veer Singh said he reached home — a highrise in Sector 82 — from Delhi three hours later than usual on Tuesday. “Even an hour and a half after crossing Ambience Mall, I had only reached Sector 15 (near 32nd Avenue). So I took the Dwarka Expressway then,” he said.

All three lanes of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway will be open to traffic by Wednesday evening, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said.

“Two out of three lanes had to shut for traffic yesterday. We have already opened one, and the remaining one will also be opened up by the evening. We are just ensuring it is sealed properly with soil because the road sees heavy truck traffic,” said an NHAI official.

Repairs continued through Wednesday; all lanes are expected to be opened to traffic by evening. (Express Photo)

What caused the cave-in?

The collapse took place at a location where the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is laying a pipe beneath NH-48. The incident left a large crater on the expressway.

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“NHAI would like to inform that a localised cave-in has occurred on a portion of NH-48 near Narsinghpur (Delhi-Jaipur side) at a location where @OfficialGMDA was carrying out pipe culvert pushing works,” the Authority said in a statement.

A culvert is a pipe for water that goes under a road.

“The GMDA was pushing one of its pipes from left to right, and we did not expect such heavy rainfall yesterday. The water eventually seeped in from the pipe that was being pushed in and emerged on the other end, which led the area to settle and crater in,” explained an NHAI official.

A GMDA engineering team official present at the site blamed the cave-in on the persistent rain.

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“We were putting in place two pipes to connect to the temporary drain that is in process of being concretised and was carrying runoff. Because of the heavy rain, water seeped through. If it had rained even two days later, the cave-in would not have happened,” the official said.

“Nearby industries also tend to release their drainage directly here despite our instructions, adding to the load,” he added.

A section near Narsinghpur on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway caved in after heavy rain on Tuesday. (Express Photo)

What precautions will NHAI take going forward?

The NHAI official said they have told all agencies involved in pipe-pushing to stop such work until the monsoon ends.

GMDA officials said the cave-in was covered up by 9 pm Tuesday, and the remaining pipe installation work will be completed depending on the spells of rain ahead.

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What was the aftermath?

The cave-in, however, resulted in a traffic jam stretching for kilometres, with many commuters reporting delays ranging from an hour to a couple of hours.

Traffic Police had to create diversions through Dwarka Expressway and Southern Peripheral Road.

It also issued a cautionary advisory requesting corporate employees to work from home due to the inclement weather. “We strongly urge the corporate sector and private establishments to encourage Work from Home (WFH) arrangements for their employees for the next few days. Minimising non-essential vehicular movement will greatly assist our traffic management teams in maintaining the flow of traffic and ensuring emergency services remain unobstructed,” the police said in a statement.

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Devansh Mittal is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in the New Delhi City bureau. He reports on urban policy, civic governance, and infrastructure in the National Capital Region, with a growing focus on housing, land policy, transport, and the disruption economy and its social implications.

Professional Background

Education: He studied Political Science at Ashoka University.

Core Beats: His reporting focuses on policy and governance in the National Capital Region, one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. He covers housing and land policy, municipal governance, urban transport, and the interface between infrastructure, regulation, and everyday life in the city.

Recent Notable Work

His recent reporting includes in-depth examinations of urban policy and its on-ground consequences:

An investigation into subvention-linked home loans that documented how homebuyers were drawn into under-construction projects through a “builder–bank” nexus, often leaving them financially exposed when delivery stalled.

A detailed report on why Delhi’s land-pooling policy has remained stalled since 2007, tracing how fragmented land ownership, policy design flaws, and mistrust among stakeholders have kept one of the capital’s flagship urban reforms in limbo.

A reported piece examining the collapse of an electric mobility startup and what it meant for women drivers dependent on the platform for livelihoods.

Reporting Approach

Devansh’s work combines on-ground reporting with analysis of government data, court records, and academic research. He regularly reports from neighbourhoods, government offices, and courtrooms to explain how decisions on housing, transport, and the disruption economy shape everyday life in the city.

Contact

X (Twitter): @devanshmittal_

Email: [email protected] ... Read More

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

X (Twitter): @AB_Hazardous ... Read More

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