Despite Rs 500-cr spend, Gurugram sinks every monsoon

Every monsoon, Gurugram drowns — and with it, promises of permanent solutions. Nearly a decade after ‘Jalgram’ first hit headlines in 2016, the story remains unchanged: multiple meetings, hundreds of crores spent, yet the Millennium City is crippled by waterlogging year after year.

Waterlogging hotspots

Highways & arterial roads: Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, NH-8, Hero Honda Chowk, SPR-Wazirabad

Key city points: Rajiv Chowk Park, Artemis Roundabout, Basai Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Sohna Road

Residential/market areas: Golf Course Road, Golf Course Extension, Sheetla Mata Road, Sadar Bazaar, Bus Stand Road

Affected sectors: 4, 5, 12, 13, 22, 23, 30, 31, 40, 45, 47, 48, 51

Union Minister and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar, in the Lok Sabha earlier this month, summed it up bluntly: “Gurugram’s civic infrastructure is largely adequate except waterlogging which remains a challenge, especially during heavy rains.”

Since 2016, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has spent a staggering Rs 500 crore to tackle the crisis — a majority of it on drain cleaning and “bandage solutions.” In the first quarter of 2025-26 alone, Rs 15.7 crore has gone into repairing and maintaining stormwater drains and sewerage lines.

Yet, the list of vulnerable points stays stubbornly at around 100 locations, with the same stretches making repeat appearances year after year. Notorious choke points include NH-8, Narsinghpur, Artemis Roundabout, SPR-Wazirabad, Hero Honda Chowk and several highways, turning traffic into a nightmare during heavy downpours.

Khattar, explaining the persistent flooding, pointed to Gurugram’s terrain and broken natural drainage: “The city’s terrain is influenced by the Aravalli hills on the east and the Najafgarh drain on the northwest. The 78-metre elevation difference once allowed natural flow, aided by bundhs built in the 19th century. But urbanisation has rendered these bundhs ineffective and reduced the pond networks, disturbing traditional systems.”

Urban planners argue that more than terrain, it is encroachment on natural water channels and the failure to regularly clean drains that fuel the crisis. Civic groups allege that since 2023, most city drains had not been cleaned until MCG Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya ordered it at the onset of this monsoon.

Praveen Yadav, president of United Gurugram RWAs, minced no words: “The basics to solve waterlogging is drainage. Authorities don’t care about it while making plans. The underpasses survive on pumps every monsoon. Secondly, drains were not cleaned since 2023 — it was only after the first flooding this season that they woke up.”

However, ULB Minister Vipul Goel claimed the situation has improved this year. “We have improved in terms of response and number of key vulnerable points. The rains this season have been heavier than usual but you will not find any place where water has stayed more than two hours. We have also roped in agencies like NHAI to ensure there is no waterlogging.”