On Gurugram Streets on a Rainy Day

हरे कृष्णा हरे जाम

हरे गुरु हरे ग्राम|

Gurgaon now Gurugram boasts of being the Millenium City. What earned this sobriquet could be the offices of several IT companies and grand edifices and Malls which are touted not as shopping places but as a destination and tourist attraction.

While the concentration of IT companies brings in thousands of young minds to the city along with revenue, it is certainly not this alone that should earn Gurugram this sobriquet. Silicon Valley in the US is home to the who's who of the world IT industry. But then Silicon Valley is also known for the 6th highest GDP in the world, and the best air, and water supply anywhere on the planet Earth. The infrastructure there is awesome and always being upgraded.

And here is our Millennium City overwhelmed by one hour's downpour. Thousands of motorists were stranded everywhere. Engines stalled. People abandoned their cars on the roads and trudged home in knee-deep water. NH 8 gets flooded and large pools of water create a huge splash.

And to make matters worse rains are invariably accompanied by power cuts.

Most of us believe that the reason for these ills is faulty planning and engineering. Most of the HUDA sectors have been carved out by acquiring village shamlat land. Each village used to have a big pond that served as a receptor for excess water. With the disappearance of these water bodies and disregard for the natural slope of the area stormwater management has become difficult.

The greedy governments have sold every inch of land even earmarked for parks, schools, and other community facilities in these sectors making us all suffer. The traditional and natural nullahs and streams have also been sold and big projects have come upon them to meet the ever-increasing housing demand.

Unlike Panchkula, Gurugram is not a zero hawker city. If you want to sell fruits, just start doing so on any pavement or footpath in Gurgaon. All that you need to do is to perhaps grease the palms of a few unscrupulous municipality or police officials. It is nobody's business to see how many hawkers, rehris and other vendors have illegally occupied the public footpaths. Whatever trash their businesses generate, goes into the drains which are seldom cleaned. Cleaning of drains may be a major issue in Delhi but not in your Millennium City.

Plastic bags are the bane of city drains. If a small state like Himachal Pradesh can ban the use of plastic bags, why can't the bigger states like Haryana do so? Can the local municipality not enforce such a ban? It would make the city look better. At present, you see plastic trash everywhere.

Thank God the heavens did not decide to open up today! Imagine what would have happened.

It is time the Gurugram officials were slapped on their wrists by their political masters to get their act together and take corrective measures immediately and engineer corrections in the next few months.