Since Wednesday night, workers from a nearby wholesale liquor godown have been hard at work, removing beer bottles from 1,500 crates after the truck fell into a crater on Southern Peripheral Road. The road caved in following heavy rain in the Millennium City
“Lelo lelo do do karke bottle pakdo (Take two bottles at a time, pick them).”
This isn’t talk between college students unloading liquor for a party.
Since Wednesday night, around two dozen labourers have been working in shifts, removing Carlsberg beer bottles from a 10-metre deep crater on a road in Gurgaon.
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That evening, following a torrential downpour — 103 mm of rain in just 90 minutes — a truck carrying at least 1,500 crates of the popular beer plunged headfirst into the ground as the road vanished under its wheels.
A portion of the road had caved in on the Southern Peripheral Road opposite the American Express building
“40 lakh ka maal barbaad ho gaya (Rs 40 lakh worth of stuff is gone),” a labourer involved in the operation says, pointing to the bottles lying in the crater.
He adds that at night, they kept bouncers to guard the bottles. The truck and the bottles are insured.
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The truck was carrying at least 1,500 crates of the popular beer when it plunged headfirst into the ground as the road vanished under its wheels on Wednesday night. (Express Photo by Abhimnayu Hazarika) The truck was carrying at least 1,500 crates of the popular beer when it plunged headfirst into the ground as the road vanished under its wheels on Wednesday night. (Express Photo by Abhimnayu Hazarika)
The men offloading the bottles are employed by a nearby wholesale liquor godown. They’ve been at work for over 24 hours — examining each bottle, throwing those that are leaking, and transferring the rest in pairs of two to a makeshift shed of sorts where a pickup truck is parked.
They are stacked in boxes inside the vehicle.
“We have been at it since Wednesday night. Today we came at 6 am, yesterday we left around the same time in the evening,” says Golu Bhadoria, 28, another worker.
When asked why it is taking so long, he smiles and says, “Do hi toh haath hain (We have only two hands).”
A policeman nearby offers a solution. “Bring the bottles near the shed. Keep them in boxes and then transfer them to the pickup truck. Otherwise, this will never end.”
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Traffic policeman Jeet Ram, supervising the scene, estimates the cleanup will be done by 6 pm. “After that, we will start removing the truck, and then the authority (Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority) will begin repairs of the road.”
A crane stands ready nearby.
When the workmen are asked if their employer will let them keep a few bottles as their pay in kind, they offer a coy smile.
A staffer from Singla Liquor Private Limited, overseeing the work, says the bottles were on the way to their godown. “There were 1,500 crates on board. The beer was headed to our godown for redistribution to retail outlets. We deployed bouncers as a precaution,” he adds.
Meanwhile, a man passing by claims, half in jest, to have arranged a deal to sell some of the bottles.
“Rs 600 per crate. Any takers?” he asks, before getting back to his phone quietly on seeing a policeman approaching.
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Wednesday evening’s downpour left all major roads in Gurgaon congested, after heavy showers that began at around 7 pm led to waterlogging across the city. Key roads were not spared, including upscale areas such as Golf Course Road, which saw knee-deep waterlogging and traffic snarls that lasted at least an hour along the Rapid Metro stretch.
Roads outside prominent private hospitals like Medanta, Artemis and Fortis were also waterlogged for hours. In parts of Sector 14 and Sushant Lok, water entered ground-floor homes.
