Gurugram’s unending battle with urban decay

Gurugram's rapid growth faces waste mismanagement challenges, prompting residents to demand better governance and long-term planning for a cleaner city.

Having moved with his family from New Delhi to Gurugram in 2000, Yashvardhan Jhaveri said he witnessed a rapid development each passing year. Once nothing more than a quiet suburb of Delhi, dotted with villages and farmlands, Gurugram soon transformed into the “Millennium City,” home to more than 250 Fortune 500 companies, he recalled.

Yashvardhan Jhaveri, a resident of DLF Phase 1. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

But rapid urbanisation without long-term planning has brought challenges, the most pressing of which is waste mismanagement. “Over the last few years, the surge in construction activity has generated massive malba waste. With the Basai construction and demolition waste plant operating at limited capacity, and little regard for the law, truckers have been dumping debris illegally on roadsides, empty plots, and even the fringes of the Aravallis,” he said.

This is not a new story, Jhaveri lamented.

He pointed to an intersection near the Gurgaon–Faridabad Expressway, which fell within a protected Aravalli zone, which had turned into an illegal dumping ground in 2008.

“Residents, including my parents, protested and had the site shifted, temporarily halting the encroachment. In 2016, collective efforts by citizens and NGOs transformed the spot from Kachra Chowk into Khushboo Chowk, proving that change was possible when a community united,” he said.

“In recent months, I have seen this spirit revived, amplified by social media,” Jhaveri said, pointing to instances where residents share videos of roadside dumping, tagging authorities on a daily basis.

“I experienced its impact firsthand when my videos of Sunset Boulevard drew thousands of views and prompted the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to clear large stretches of waste. The issue was picked up on these citizen-led alerts, and the authorities have been nudged to announce an expansion of waste management capacity.”

However, he remains sceptical.

Announcements alone won’t restore Gurugram’s promise, he said.

“Clearing illegal dump sites should just be the first step, not the solution. The city needs an integrated, long-term plan that addresses the root causes of urban decay,” said the chartered financial analyst.

For a city that once symbolised aspiration, Jhaveri stressed that Gurugram must now prove it can match growth with governance. Only then can it truly earn the tag it has long claimed, the “Millennium City.”

(Yashvardhan Jhaveri a resident of DLF Phase 1)