Poor civic conditions make New Gurugram unsafe to live

Gurugram: A middle-aged couple was chased down by a mob of 15 to 20 unruly men who were allegedly drunk. They not only hurled abuses at the couple but also tried to physically harm them. The ordeal was faced by the Gurugram couple as there are allegations that the police did not file their FIR. The couple then took to social media to vent their ire and raised the problem faced by them. Owing to a huge response, the Gurugram police then also took to the social media to issue their clarification on the case.

Despite having lakhs of residents living in areas of New Gurugram, lack of social infrastructure and poor civic conditions continue to plague the residents.

Ironically these complaints have only risen despite a number of heinous crimes like rapes and murder that have occurred in the nearby areas. This has prompted various residents of New Gurugram to complain of the inadequate security measures in the newly developed sectors of the city. Besides visiting the offices of the public officials, most of the residents of the newly developed sectors are using social media to highlight their grievances to the concerned authorities.

A major list of complaints cited by the residents is poor street lighting, less patrolling of police vehicles and the presence of liquor vending units in the area. Adding to the grievances, residents highlight that even after several requests to the public authorities to take action, there has been no improvement in the situation.

The new sectors of Gurugram consist of Sectors from 81-95. Most of these sectors that are enroute to Manesar are witnessing a lot of development from the builders. Not only areas in New Gurugram but sectors of 58-67 are facing the similar problems. In most of the cases, the infrastructure in these sectors remain undeveloped as the private developers that are in charge of providing the infrastructure fail to do so.

A major reason why the social infrastructure has not been developed is the lack of accountability for builders as well as the government. While a host of litigations has prevented the government to develop the areas, there are also allegations that most of the builders have not utilized the external development charges. Owing to a large amount of EDC that is estimated to be around Rs 14,000 crores, there is a case which is being heard in the Punjab and Haryana

high court.