Gurugram’s Ward 14 endures broken roads, water crisis
For over a decade, residents have suffered from erratic water supply and low pressure, often forcing them to store water in buckets, residents claimed
Residents of Sectors 9 and 9 A in Ward 14 have been enduring a water supply crisis for years, they alleged. Despite repeated complaints, locals claimed that the issue remains unresolved. Residents further added that the area also grapples with traffic jams, clogged sewers, illegal garbage dumping, and deteriorating roads.
According to Ward 14 locals, while the sanitation in Sector 9 is handled by private contractors keeping the area clean, sweeping and door-to-door garbage collection in the rest of the areas in the ward which are Sector 7 Housing Board, Surya Vihar, Devi Lal Colony, Feroz Gandhi Colony 2, and Ambedkar Nagar are poor.. Sewer lines connecting sectors 7 and 9 to the sewerage treatment plant, which is hardly 200 metres away, are clogged but the lines remain functional in the rest of the area.
Poor water supply and infrastructure neglect
Residents further claimed that pipelines were laid to supply water to Sectors 9 and 9A from the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s main line, but they remain unused, and the old pipeline is leaking. A new boosting station for ₹2.5 crore in addition to the existing one was built by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) in Sector 9A have been idle for three years due to the absence of a transformer, they alleged.
Inderjeet Singh Chauhan, president of the Sector 9 residents’ welfare association, said, MCG has not paid Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited to install the transformer, preventing power supply to the pumps. “Just for a few lakhs of rupees, infrastructure worth crores of taxpayers’ money is getting wasted.” He added that residents have submitted multiple complaints, but no action has been taken.
“Two new supply pipelines for Sector 9 and 9A for ₹2.5 crore each for carrying more water were also laid down with help of councillor Sanjay Kumar which are also lying unused as the pumps have not been connected to them yet in want of power supply,” Chauhan said, adding that a decade back water supply was better with lesser population in the area. He further said the pipeline in several pockets in the sectors are yet to be laid as contractor left the work in between.
For over a decade, residents have suffered from erratic water supply and low pressure, often forcing them to store water in buckets, residents claimed. Manoj Kumar, a resident of Sector 9, highlighted that women bear the brunt as household chores are delayed. “It takes more than 1.5 hours to clean daily clothes in the washing machine due to low water pressure,” he added.
Severe traffic congestion worsens after the Dwarka Expressway and broken roads in the ward
In addition to the water crisis, traffic congestion has intensified in Ward 14 since the Dwarka Expressway opened. As commuters use the narrow dividing road between Sector 9 and 9A as a shortcut since it connects Basai Chowk to Dwarka expressway via a road overbridge, the heavy flow of excess vehicles leads to regular congestion.
The residents said that even passenger buses for Rohtak and Bhiwani move through the dividing road adding to the long traffic snarls.
Anil Garg, a resident of Sector 9, explained that buses and heavy vehicles exacerbate the jams, especially during peak hours, making it difficult for students and commuters.
“The dividing road for sectors 9 and 9A is narrow (18 metres) worsening the flow of traffic. The district administration and traffic police need to plan a diversion to ease our suffering,” Garg said, adding that several neighbouring areas such as Devi Lal Colony also suffer from congested traffic as they access the city and markets by commuting through the same sector road.
According to residents, roads connecting sectors 7, 9, 9 A and Surya Vihar from Sector 4 are in poor condition due to substandard construction and unauthorised movement of heavy vehicles. Many of these roads were built just two years ago, but have already broken apart, and no repairs have been undertaken since then, locals alleged.
Satish Rao from Surya Vihar said, “Some roads are in such a bad shape that several residents, mainly motorcyclists, have toppled.” Residents also complain about slippery conditions due to overflowing sewers, which have turned some roads virtually impassable.
“Several residents have sustained injuries going over these roads on their two-wheelers. Despite writing to civic authorities multiple times, no action was taken. Some issues were fixed after we complained until there were ward councillors. However, once their tenure ended, with no new elections for their replacements, no development or repair works were carried out since then,” Rao added.
Illegal garbage dumping and clogged sewers plague residents of Ward 14
The outer areas of the ward face illegal dumping of garbage around sectors 9 and 7, locals alleged. Residents said that as the localities are on the border of the old Gurugram, there are many empty plots, most of which have been turned into illegal garbage dumping spots.
Locals further allege that some places in the area are covered with garbage and overflowing sewage which makes it extremely difficult for commuters to go across those roads. Roads leading to Devi Lal Colony or Ambedkar Colony are facing the same issues, they added.
While sanitation in Sector 9 is managed by three private contractors, resulting in cleaner streets, sweeping and garbage collection in other areas remain poor. Kailash Dhar Singh, a resident of Devi Lal Colony, claimed that the main entry and exit of their area is from Sector 9 and the road is completely covered in garbage and sewer water, making it a difficult commute.
“On both sides of the road, mounds of garbage have accumulated from continuous illegal dumping as MCG sanitation workers neither sweep nor pick up garbage from every door daily morning,” Singh added.
KC Sharma, Sector-9 RWA vice president, said that they have been taking the services of private contractors for the last years as the MCG works were virtually ineffective and irregular. “It used to cause a lot of trouble for us and thus we decided to go for private contractors. One can easily see the difference is that garbage is littered everywhere just outside the sector,” he added.
Sewers connecting Sectors 9 and 7 to the local sewage treatment plant are clogged, with missing manhole covers, causing waterlogging in vacant lands in the area and turning them into mosquito breeding grounds. A large park in Sector 9 has been flooded with sewage water, making it unsafe for children and residents.
Residents claimed that the sewer lines leading to the sewage treatment plant from ESIC hospital in Sector 9 and the one in Sector 7 clogged for the last three to four months. They also claimed that MCG workers barely clean the sewers leading to their current conditions.
Former councillor Sanjay Kumar noted that jet pumps are needed for cleaning, but these are rarely available. “Other areas of the ward do not have problems with clogged sewer and even the rainwater accumulation gets drained as the STPs pull the water from the sewer networks immediately,” he added.
“Overall projects above ₹13 crore are getting wasted in the ward. Pipeline project worth ₹5 crore and boosting station worth ₹2.5 crore gathering dust due to negligence of MCG officials. A storm water drain worth ₹2.5 crore for Sector 7 was completed but is lying unused as it was yet to get connection with the STP,” he said. Kumar also said a community centre worth ₹3 crore was constructed in Feroz Gandhi Colony but it is yet to made operational as MCG could not finalise a consultant last year for finishing the work, which cost about ₹1 crore.
According to residents, due to the waterlogging and sewage backflow, a large park has been rendered useless for months in Sector 9. In response to the claim, the former councillor said: “It is inundated with rain and sewer water and long grasses have grown up now turning it into mosquito breeding ground. None of the officials from the civic agencies have stepped in to make the park reusable again.”
In a response to the residents’ claims, MCG commissioner Narhari Singh Bangar said that the road repair works will be carried out once the model code of conduct ends. “We will also review the projects which are almost complete but are not in use due to small pending work and action will be taken to hire contractor and finish the works as per rules,” he added.
(With inputs from Ishita Singh)