Explainer: Why it’s not easy to fix a crumbling Gurugram

FALLING civic services, collapsing infrastructure and in this time of the year, monsoon flooding too — Gurugram is crumbling, and without any fix in sight. The traffic gridlock exceeding six hours, after a heavy downpour on the evening of September 1, once again exposed the Millennium City’s infrastructure gaps. The National Capital Region’s most expensive urban hub seems to be in no position to come out of the hole it has dug for itself, all in the name of development.

The city saw an encore of 2016 — but on a much larger scale — as thousands of vehicles remained stranded for almost eight hours in a serpentine queue on the Jaipur highway. How did Gurugram get here?

The officials were quick to blame it all on the intense spell of rain on September 1: over 100 mm in four hours. The Opposition labelled it as the “inefficiency” of the BJP government of 11 years, and the counter to it was the “previous Congress government’s flawed masterplans”.

Root of the problem

Experts stress that flooding in the city every monsoon is a manmade crisis caused by decades of unchecked concretisation, shrinking Aravallis, lost natural drainage system and the lack of accountability.

In the line of fire for doing little when he held the reins of power in Haryana, former Chief Minister and now Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told the Lok Sabha recently that rapid urbanisation in Gurugram has disrupted the traditional drainage systems. As a result, he said, “Bundhs are ineffective and the pond network has been reduced, leading to waterlogging.”

Responding to a question, Khattar said Gurugram has a unique topography featuring the Aravalli hills to the east and the Najafgarh drain to the northwest. The elevation difference of 78m between them has created a natural gradient for water flow. This was historically controlled through a series of bundhs built in the late 19th century.

“Rapid urbanisation has rendered many bundhs obsolete and reduced pond networks, impacting traditional drainage systems,” Khattar added.

The arrangement that worked

Owing to its bowl-shaped topography, surrounded by Aravallis, areas lying in seasonal river basins like Sahibi were always prone to flooding. However, according to gazette records, the area had an enviable drainage system that remained intact till the 1960s.

During the British era, Gurugram’s (then Gurgaon) natural water drainage system, which relied on lakes and nullahs for rainwater storage and groundwater recharge, was improved by the construction of around 118 check dams to control flooding and waterlogging.

Key features included four major bundhs (dams) at Ghata, Nathupur, Chakkarpur and Jharsa. The British also sanctioned drains, such as Nathupur, to manage seasonal floods and facilitate natural water flow.

Lost water channels

From being a British Cantonment to becoming the face of Haryana, Gurugram lost its natural drainage channels. According to a survey, the city has lost 389 water bodies in 60 years, reducing their count from 640 in 1956 to 251. Majority of these have been encroached upon, with high-rises being built on them. The remaining have seen a considerable reduction in size.

The situation was still not bad in the 1990s as despite rampant mining, the Aravallis stood guard.

Among the oldest mountain ranges in the world, the Aravallis act as a crucial buffer. The quartzite rock formations serve as vital groundwater reservoirs. Their fractured, weathered surfaces act as natural recharge conduits, allowing monsoon rain to percolate into aquifers. The sandy foothills, known as bhood, are highly porous and function as excellent recharge zones, absorbing surplus runoff from the rocky slopes and replenishing the groundwater table. All this is lost now.

Gurugram was ushered into unplanned expansion. Hills and forests were levelled to make way for skyscrapers and highways. Ironically, while the area sees floods every monsoon, the water table lies in the red zone. The city is designated as a groundwater ‘dark zone’ by the Central Ground Water Board.

Where does the water go

Gurugram was part of the Aravalli ecosystem, with natural forest drainage and aquifers. All thanks to successive governments, nearly all have been lost. There are now societies that have been built on storm water drains in areas like Ghata or Gwal Pahari. The natural bhood are lost, and so is groundwater recharge. “Ironically, luxury housing continues to flourish while we lose the Aravallis hill by hill, pond by pond,” says Vaishali Rana Chandra of the Aravalli Bachao Movement.

Unholy nexus

Urban planners blame the ‘politician-bureaucrat-builder’ nexus as one of the main reasons for the mess Gurugram finds itself in. During the past two decades, large land parcels were procured by builders and giving two hoots to drainage, both natural or manmade, high-rises and glitzy townships were built.

As the city emerged as an auto, cyber and logistics hub, the highway infrastructure grew. From two-lane roads to expressways and underpasses, it saw quadrupling of vehicles in just a decade while still struggling to figure out basic drainage systems.

“Gurugram saw an unplanned boom. The city had the land resources and in the late 1990s, it resulted in unchecked construction. The builders were getting land parcels for IT parks, condominiums, SEZs. To support that boom, we got expressways, flyovers, underpasses. Nobody cared about the drainage. The ultimate collapse came in 2016 when we saw our first flash floods. Since then, hundreds of crores have been spent on band-aid solutions, but nothing is working,” says Udit Puri, a local town planning expert.

Battling with waterlogging and poor civic planning, the Municipal Corporation has spent Rs 500 crore in the past nine years to tackle the drainage crisis, with not much to show. The local government has now announced a new drainage plan for the city, but, as experts point out, in the absence of systemic, long-term fixes, Gurugram will continue to crumble under its own weight.