It's been a year and little more, a newly constructed tunnel in the national capital Delhi at Pragati Maidan has turned out to be fatal for commuters as per media reports.

The monsoons haven't even started in the National Capital, but reports of water leakage are already coming.

Two days ago, Public Works Department (PWD) officials claimed that persistent problems of water leakage and seepage had been fixed in the Pragati Maidan Tunnel.

However, during a visit to the spot, water could still be seen leaking and dripping from several points in the 1.2-km-long structure.

When The Indian Express visited the stretch on Monday, it found that though a lot of repair work has been carried out, water leakage could still be seen at some of the spots of the stretch going towards Supreme Court from Noida.

At three points, the water leakage was relatively less but at the parking, which also connects the Bhairon Marg underpass which is currently not open to the public, waterlogging could easily be seen. On the other side though, which connects Noida, there was no visible leakage problem.

A few days ago, the barricades placed around the spots facing seepage were removed.

Billed as Delhi's widest underground tunnel along with five other underpasses, the stretch was constructed as part of the Pragati Maidan Integrated Corridor Redevelopment Project. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022. However, seepage and water leakage started within a few months after the inauguration, due to which the tunnel was closed several times for repair work, including a period last year when it was closed for a month thanks to heavy waterlogging.

Last month, the department also formed an expert committee to vet the methodology to resolve the water leakage issues inside the main Pragati Maidan Tunnel.

In February, the PWD issued a notice to the L&T, flagging "design deficiencies" and a "potential threat to the life of passengers", and asked the company -which executed the project - to deposit Rs 500 crore.