‘Poor planning hits development’

The poor civic amenities in Gurgaon-Manesar Complex can be attributed to lack of proper planning by the authorities concerned.

The poor civic amenities in Gurgaon-Manesar Complex can be attributed to lack of proper planning by the authorities concerned.

HT Image

By 2025, the population is projected to reach more than 37 lakh. Adequate arrangements, both in terms of basic facilities and infrastructure, should be made to support the population. It would require around 800 cusecs of water, but nothing has been planned in this regard as of now.

Though three water treatment plants are ready in Basai, storage tanks are yet to be arranged. Once this is done, Gurgaon will have access to 60MGD (million gallon per day) of water.

A plant at Chandu Budhera is also being planned. After the completion of the first phase by next year, it will add around 22MGD of water. By 2014, the last phase, too, will be completed, thus adding another 44MGD of water.

More land is needed for setting up water treatment plants at Chandu Budhera. If it is done, the total water supply in Gurgaon will touch 170MGD.

But even then, it will not be able to meet the water requirement of Gurgaon-Manesar Complex. To execute the plans is a difficult task. The main problem lies in acquiring land for constructing public utilities.

Many a times, landowners manage to get a stay from court, thus sabotaging the plan.

A similar problem was witnessed when a sewerage system was laid in Gurgaon. The work was hit midway as the project got embroiled in court cases.

To meet the rising demand for water, there are two alternatives. One is to replenish the ground water. The other is to recycle wastewater, which can be used for gardening, flushing and industry-related purposes. In case of industrial use, water re-cycling should be made compulsory.

The writer is a former engineer-in-chief of the public health department and a resident of Sector 15-I.