Gurgaon’s ward 12: Residents unite in fight against civic apathy

Sectors from 100 to 103, Sector 9-B, Sector 37, Surat Nagar Phase 3, Tek Chand Nagar, Basai village, Basai Enclave-1, Dhanwapur, Gadoli Kalan, Ram Vihar all come under Ward 12. The area accounts for 15,404 voters.

Tardy development of civic amenities in Ward 12 has united residents to choose, in the upcoming election of Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG), a candidate who will work to provide basic amenities like water, sewer, road connectivity, street lights and security, and address their problems swiftly.

Among the biggest problems citizens face in these sectors are overflowing sewage and subsequent contamination of drinking water resulting in diseases. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Residents of sectors 100, 101, 102 and 104 said that none of the candidates have shown any concern towards addressing their problems.

The MCG goes to polls on September 24; results will also be declared on the same day.

Sectors from 100 to 103, Sector 9-B, Sector 37, Surat Nagar Phase 3, Tek Chand Nagar, Basai village, Basai Enclave-1, Dhanwapur, Gadoli Kalan, Ram Vihar all come under Ward 12. The area accounts for 15,404 voters.

Among the biggest problems citizens face in these sectors are overflowing sewage and subsequent contamination of drinking water resulting in diseases. Residents say they are paying for the civic authority’s negligence with their health, and all their requests to check the problem have gone unheard.

Residents added that it’s been over two years since Huda gave occupancy certificate to builders, but they still do not have a sewage connection. This means waterlogging, both inside and outside the society, is almost permanent.

“Sometimes we wonder we do not even qualify to be called gramwaasi (village residents), forget about being the citizens of Millennium City Gurgaon,” said Kiran Ripaka, a resident of Sector 37.

Jurisdiction over many areas for civic maintenance was handed over from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) to MCG three months ago but problems prevail. Residents claim the speed of work has not changed.

Huda has been in the process of building internal and external roads for years in many sectors, but their condition can, at best, be described as “kachcha”.

“From the beginning of 2015, we have been facing problems with basic amenities like civic water supply, cleanliness, potholed and under-construction roads; these roads have been under repair for three yars but there’s no knowing when the work will end,” said Rohit Yadav, a resident of Takshila Heights in sector 37c.

He added that power cuts are almost a daily affair and damage to the high tension cable takes 2-3 days to fix. “We will caste vote for that candidate who is willing to help us and resolve all our long-pending issues,” Yadav said.

Residents of up-and-coming sectors feel they are the most neglected.

“We have been living here for past 2 years and have paid crores in external development charges but still there is no sign of the civic agency developing any infrastructure. In spite of repeated requests there has been no improvement,” Kiran said.

Residents also demanded regular patrolling of PCR vans as there are hardly any functioning street lights. Incidents of chain snatching are commonplace in Gurgaon.