Gurugram Ward 10 issues: Sewer entering homes, bad drinking water

Most of the areas in this ward do not have concrete roads or a sewer system. In Sector 4, home to 1,000 residents, the water supply is both erratic and contaminated

Gurugram’s Ward 10 comprises the oldest urban area developed in the state of Haryana — Sector 4, which dates to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yet its infrastructure has not kept up to date in all that time.

An internal road in Bhimgarh Kheri in Guurgram’s Ward 10 on Thursday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The situation across the other areas in Ward 10 — Laxman Vihar, Apna Enclave, Ashok Vihar Phase I, and Bhimnagar Kheri Phases 1, 2 and 3 — home to 150,000 people, is similar, with creaking infrastructure unable to cope with the monsoon and a swelling population.

Most of the areas in this ward do not have concrete roads or a sewer system. In Sector 4, home to 1,000 residents, the water supply is both erratic and contaminated. Residents say that 10 minutes of rainfall results in sewage backflow in the drain pipes in their toilets and bathrooms on the ground floor of their houses.

The burden on dated infrastructure has worsened in the last 10 years with the arrival of new settlers and tenants from other districts of Haryana and neighbouring states. So bad is the situation that even government schools in the ward — one each in Bhimnagar Kheri and Sector 4 — lack proper sanitation facilities and toilets for both students and teachers.

The property value in this ward has risen to ₹1.5 lakh to ₹3.25 lakh per square yard after the Dwarka Expressway opened which passes through the rear of the sector. The state government also announced in February this year that it will develop the Gurugram railway station less than a kilometre away from this ward at a cost of ₹300 crore. The project is estimated to be completed by 2027.

“The residents’ concerns are being taken seriously and we are working closely with the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to improve basic services like sanitation, water supply, and road infrastructure. We understand the urgency of the situation and will prioritise resolving these issues. Immediate steps will be taken to improve water quality and address the problem of road repairs after the monsoon,” said deputy commissioner of Gurugram Nishant Kumar Yadav.

“We are aware of the issues in Ward 10, particularly the dilapidated roads, sewer backflows, and contaminated water supply. MCG is addressing these problems. Our engineers are already conducting surveys, and once the model code of conduct ends, we will begin repairs and development works. The sanitation and water supply systems will also be prioritised for improvement,” said MCG commissioner Narhari Singh Bangar.

Sanitation

Vinod Behl, 70, a Sector 4 resident, said that numerous complaints to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority have gone unanswered. “We have been continuously complaining to the top MCG officials to clean the sewers so that the backflow of sewage in our bathroom stops but nothing happens. We approached even the joint commissioner who directed subordinates to take immediate action but the field employees and engineers didn’t act. There is no dearth in funding but ground action is not taking place and residents are suffering,” he said.

Ravi Kamboj, another resident, added that due to the area being low lying, even a small spell of rainfall causes havoc with roads and houses inundated up to several feet with sewer water. “Our sector market complex and several stretches of the road remain waterlogged for almost a week even after a spell of rain due to the bad sewer system,” he said.

The inner roads in the neighbourhoods here are littered with cow dung and garbage, which has not been picked up since in the last three months, HT found on Thursday.

Madhu Bala, a retired teacher who has been living in Laxman Vihar for the last 27 years, said that her area and Dhanwapur along the Dwarka Expressway have numerous dairy farms. “The owners or the caretakers leave the cattle to roam around in the open throughout the day. They create trouble for the commuters as roads get occupied and are littered with cow dung in addition to the garbage piles and inundation,” she said, adding that on several occasions, residents have been attacked and injured by the cattle.

Simran Bedi, another resident, said that there is not a single area where one can’t find piles of garbage lying for days on roads. “The main Dhanwapur road gets waterlogged up to four feet as all the water from Sectors 4,5 and Surya Vihar accumulates here due to the clogged drains. The green belts are encroached by cattle or by construction equipment,” she added. Residents said that they pay private contractors to collect garbage from their houses.

Bad government schools, no community centre

Residents said that there’s a gymkhana club in Sector 4 beside which is the Model Senior Secondary School which has classes from 1 to 12. There is another school in Bhimnagar Kheri from Classes 1 to 8. However, there is no community centre in the ward.

The school in Sector 4 has 3,000 students but is very dirty and the premises are filled with mud and garbage. A school employee said on condition of anonymity that they don’t even have dedicated sanitation workers for the premises. “Teachers pay and hire workers who clean the toilets everyday. There is no proper drinking water facility either,” he said.

The school in Bhimnagar Kheri, which has at least 2,100 students, is worse as students and teachers don’t even have proper toilets and washrooms. Residents said that almost all the children of Laxman vihar, Apna Enclave and Bhimnagar Kheri study in these two schools. The chairs and benches in the school are also damaged.

Residents said that they have requested authorities to build a community centre on a plot along the water boosting station in Laxman Vihar, which has been lying vacant for years and filled with dirt, but no action has been taken yet.

Ravi Kamboj, a social activist and Sector 4 resident, said the government must develop the school in Bhimnagar Kheri. “Girls and women suffer the most because of poor toilets. There is no proper drinking water facility there too,” he said, adding that the authorities should get rid of these issues in the schools at the earliest and should also come up with a plan for building a community centre soon.

Bad roads

The last time the roads were repaired was almost six years ago. KL Wasan, a Sector 4 resident, said that there are two roads for Sector 4 which connect with the Dhanwapur main road and both are in very bad shape. “The officials repaired them six years back but their present condition is very bad. One has to drive very slowly. Patch works are done sometimes by contractors but the quality of work is so poor that they don’t even last for 10 days. They get water logged even in a few minutes of rainfall and this further harms the roads,” he said.

”There is hardly any road left in Bhimnagar Kheri. Those areas face additional issues of encroachment. We have got to know from MCG officials that road repairs will start in the area only after the model code of conduct for the assembly elections ends,” he added.

Contaminated water supply

Sector 4 residents said that the water supply from house number one to 250 is contaminated for the past few months due to which many residents have also fallen ill.

Sanjeev Bhatia, one of the affected residents, said that MCG has not yet acted on their complaints on the issue. “The repeated pleas are falling in deaf ears. There has been no action on our emails and written complaints too. We face severe health hazards. Several families are forced to purchase large containers of mineral water from the market, from RO plants or from tankers for daily supply of potable water,” he said.

Wasan also said that the water contamination has turned out to be their biggest issue in the past month. “After several residents fell ill, we realised that it was due to contaminated water and we all stopped using it,” he said.