Lost in muddle of mixed development, Gurgaon's MG Road residents blame lack of planning

The Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, better known in the city and around as MG Road, is the hub of residential, commercial and entertainment activities in Gurgaon. But a close look at it reveals that it is nothing but the product of poor planning, or rather the very lack of planning by the government authorities.

The Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, better known in the city and around as MG Road, is the hub of residential, commercial and entertainment activities in Gurgaon. But a close look at it reveals that it is nothing but the product of poor planning, or rather the very lack of planning by the government authorities.

According to a recent traffic volume study conducted by a private market research company, about 1.5 lakh vehicles ply on MG Road which connects the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on one side and Mehrauli border on the other.

None in the state government or the town and country planning department responsible for planning townships could ever imagine the outcome of the mixed development it offered along MG Road in the form of residential, entertainment and commercial structures.

In the early 1980s, MG road was planned for residential development and that is how Heritage City, Beverley Park 1 and 2, Essel Towers, DLF Phase II and Sudhant Lok 1 came up along this road. However, all of a sudden in the 1990s, the government gave in to the developers’ pressure and started giving out commercial licences to the developers for building malls as well as office buildings.

Slowly, the stretch started turning into the much-hyped Mall Mile, disturbing the very lives of those living here. The most affected and worried are the ones living in the condominiums and those working in the numerous malls and offices on MG Road.

“We had been bearing the brunt of the mall evolution near our locality. We get stuck in jams at our own gates due to the congested MG Road.

About four years ago, one elderly woman of our locality died near the gate as her ambulance could not make way through the congestion.

The situation got more chaotic after three Metro stations came up on MG Road,” said a resident of Heritage City. Heritage City has about 4,000 residents.

Three of the five Metro stations in Gurgaon (yellow line of Delhi Metro) are located on MG Road.