Changemaker: A woman on a mission to better Gurugram’s image

When illegal construction debris repeatedly blocked arterial roads, she launched the grassroots Malba Hatao campaign, which helped push the city to set up its first dedicated Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste recycling plant in 2017

On Golf Course Road, Gauri Sarin is often seen walking with a clipboard, speaking with municipal sanitation workers, RWA representatives, and roadside vendors. For over a decade, Sarin has worked on civic issues because she believes Gurugram cannot prosper if its streets keep choking.

Gauri Sarin moved to Gurugram around 2004, while the city was still developing. (HT Photo)

“Gurugram should be a beautiful place, one where people want to keep coming back to,” said Sarin.

An XLRI Jamshedpur alumnus, Sarin spent more than two decades in corporate executive search and leadership consulting, advising Fortune 500 boardrooms and serving as CEO of Approach International.

In 2012, she made a decisive shift from corporate suites to grassroots civic advocacy, setting up the citizen movement Gurugram Action Plan (GAP), which later became Making Model Gurugram (MMG) in 2016.

Sarin moved to Gurugram around 2004, while the city was still developing.

“In the corporate world, you cannot simply blame the environment—you analyse the workflow, set accountability, and deliver outcomes. Governance requires the same approach. The administration needs active, structured partners on the ground, not armchair critics. Therefore, change requires both the agencies and the citizens,” she said.

When illegal construction debris repeatedly blocked arterial roads, she launched the grassroots Malba Hatao campaign, which helped push the city to set up its first dedicated Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste recycling plant in 2017.

When unscientific waste dumping began threatening the Aravallis, Sarin skipped rhetoric and launched comprehensive surveys across hundreds of RWAs, showing that decentralised, in-situ composting could process over 60% of household waste within residential complexes. She also attended the World Cities Summit in Singapore in June to understand their governance model.

Beyond concrete roads and drainage sluices, she founded Bhumijaa and the Living Without Medicine platform.

The 60-year-old brought natural farmers directly to high-rise courtyards across 75 condominiums through weekend markets, connecting more than 100,000 residents with seasonal, chemical-free produce. Along an encroached, neglected drain in Sector 47, Malibu Town, she mobilised 2,000 volunteers to convert a barren 1.5-kilometre tract at Jharsa Bandh into a thriving “medicinal food forest” of 60 native tree varieties.

Rallying citizens under Gurugram Residents Against Pollution (GRAP) for clean air and walkable streets, Sarin says she will keep working for civic issues.