Gurgaon residents seek basic amenities

Gurugram The Millennium City, a melting pot of cultures and a mix of rural and urban areas, witnesses widespread migration of job seekers every year, burdening the

Gurugram The Millennium City, a melting pot of cultures and a mix of rural and urban areas, witnesses widespread migration of job seekers every year, burdening the existing infrastructure and forcing civic agencies to keep on their toes to maintain civic facilities.

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At present, Gurgaon assembly constituency has a population of 12-13 lakh, with 3.61 lakh voters among them. Residents say that the city lacks the basic infrastructure and amenities to cater to the population. In the last five years, the government has built several roads and underpasses to reduce congestion in the city, but there is a lot that still needs to be done, say residents.

Heavy pollution, lack of transportation facilities, waterlogging, dependence on shared autos, lack of streetlights, non-delivery by municipal authorities, a Metro train that has remained on paper and lack of greenery remain the main issues of residents. “Gurgaon yields the maximum revenue in Haryana, but development is only on paper. Forget Metro, even the Rapid Metro is getting closed. The government has done little to improve the city,” said Tejbir Singh, a resident.

In condominiums and colonies to the eastern side of the highway, the most important issue troubling residents is heavy pollution, poor electricity infrastructure, inadequate services by the municipal corporation and inability of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority to puts its plans into practice. “Work, no doubt, has started to take place, but the pace is slow. If the government takes the decision and the bureaucracy takes its time to implement it. The government needs to accelerate development,” said Dr AK Nagpal, former president of Sushant Lok 1 residents’ welfare association (RWA).

The Gurgaon assembly constituency has six major villages — Gurgaon village, Chakkarpur, Kanhai, Wazirabad, Sukhrali and Silokhra — with large populations but few voters.

Environmentalists have been critical of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for endangering the Aravallis by amending the Punjab Land Preservation Act, which, ultimately, was put on hold by the Supreme Court. The proposals to build roads through Aravalli Biodiversity Park and another, cutting through the Aravallis in Sohna, were heavily criticised.

“The government should have curbed the shared autos and expanded the bus service to cater to the large-scale population. This could have cut pollution. The Aravallis must be protected from being converted into real estate,” said Sharad Goel, a businessman and activist.

Failure to extend the Metro to Old Gurgaon has also caused resentment among residents. “The Metro in Delhi and Noida has expanded, but stuck in Gurgaon because of party politics,” said Kumar Thakur, who alleged that major development projects are launched to cater to New Gurgaon at the expense of the older parts.

Lack of footpaths, cycle tracks and facilities for non-motorised transport is also a major feature across the constituency. Many hit out at the latest mobility plan as it has allotted only a small portion of the budget for footpaths and pedestrian walkways.

Around 70,000 voters living in the 900-metre disputed area around the IAF ammunition depot also expressed displeasure over the unresolved legal status of the area. “There are no amenities such as roads, water supply and sewage system. Even worse is the fact that houses in the 300-metre zone face demolition,” said Sukhbir Kataria, the Congress candidate, who has promised to get the dispute resolved.

Members of the BJP said that the party has managed to provide relief to residents in the 900-metre area. “In the last three years, we have taken permission from the high court and laid water and power lines to provide these services, albeit with conditions set by the court,” said Sudhir Singla, the BJP candidate, adding that more development is on the cards for the next five years.

He said that traffic issues in the city have been resolved, and road projects — Dwarka Expressway, Sohna elevated road, peripheral roads and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway have been taken up on a priority.

With election campaigning coming to an end on Saturday evening, it remains to be seen whether Gurgaon votes for BJP, Congress or goes for an independent. The business community, despite facing slowdown and problems due to GST, is likely to support the BJP candidate, Sudhir Singla, as he is also from their community. “The traders are going to vote for Modi and the BJP, irrespective of the economic situation. This vote is for nationalism and an honest candidate,” said Bablu Gupta, president, Sadar Bazar traders association.

While the fight in Gurgaon is clearly between the BJP and Congress, independent candidate Mohit Madan Lal Grover has also garnered support among a large number of Punjabi voters. “There are around 80,000 Punjabi voters in Gurgaon and they were expecting BJP would give the ticket to a Punjabi leader. This has hurt their sentiments and even forced the CM to canvass on Singla’s behalf, but it is not going to work,” said Manish Khatana, a Congress spokesperson for Haryana.