Once a city with over 600 ponds, Gurugram now left with only 40

Gurugram: Huge challenge lies ahead for officials who want to revive the dying lakes of Gurugram. A survey that was recently concluded by the authorities reveals that there are only 40 ponds left. This is huge drop from over 600 ponds that used to abound the city in 1950's. Real estate development and rapid urbanisations have resulted in most of the areas of ponds being converted into area for commercial usage.

One such example is the ancient Sukhrali village pond. A rare pond situated at the centre of the city has survived being taken over by the real estate sharks unlike the other ponds in the village that have been urbanised.

As Gurugram received good monsoons last year after a long time, the 5-acre pond was completely filled up. However, the residents of Sukhrali are not happy with maintenance of the pond and rather want it to be converted into a park or a sports ground for training. Already a land part of the pond has been used for building a community centre.

Developing ponds and bunds seems to be a major priority for the district administration, but it has to deal with the illegal bore wells that are also resulting in diminishing the vital resource.

Around 40 per cent of citizens still depend on the ground water for their water supply. Water scarcity in large parts of the city has resulted in the growth of tanker mafia where water has been sold to the residents at exorbitant rates. Most of the residents complain that they are forced to pay the amount of Rs 1500 to the private water tankers.