Overflowing drains, choking colonies: Gurugram’s daily sewerage nightmare

Rubber slippers in a poly bag, trousers rolled up, and resigned expressions — this has become the morning routine for residents of Rajendra Park colony. The attire, jokingly dubbed the ‘colony uniform’, is not a quirky fashion choice but a survival tactic to wade through overflowing drains every single day. For thousands across Gurugram, sewerage overflow is not an occasional civic inconvenience but a permanent crisis.

Millennium City’s sewerage mess

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5.52 lakh households in city

3.67 lakh (66%) have illegal sewer connections

Only 1.84 lakh legal connections exist

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100 complaints of overflow received by MCG every day

Worst-affected urban colonies

Rajendra Park, Omnagar, Shanti Nagar, Hiranagar, Shivji Park, Laxmi Garden, Jacobpura, Sushant Lok (Block-C), Indira Colony, Sector-57 (G Block)

Villages hit

Basai, Kadipur, Naharpur Rupa, Jharssa, Tighra, Ghata, Chakkarpur, Mohammadpur Jharsa, Narsinghpur, Bandhwari

Why the chaos

Rampant encroachment, ‘urban chawls’ in rental hubs

Overflowing drains due to illegal connections

Poor maintenance, contamination of water supply

Mosquito and fly infestation

MCG’s action plan

Sewerage Monitoring Cell created under Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya

40 key areas mapped for permanent resolution

100 illegal connections snapped so far

Deadline: Gurugram to be overflow-free by April 30, 2026

Rajendra Park is among nearly 50 colonies in the city where clogged and overflowing drains make life unbearable. “Other parts of city get waterlogged, but our area is sewerage-logged round the year,” says 60-year-old Ram Prasad Chauhan, a long-time resident. “We dress crisply for work each day, but have to roll up our clothes and carry our slippers to cross streets if we are on foot or on two-wheelers. The stench is unbearable, mosquitoes are everywhere, and our water supply gets contaminated regularly. Officials come, apply band-aid fixes, and within a week, it is back to square one. We have accepted this as our fate.”

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) admits it receives over 100 complaints daily about sewer blockages and overflow, but the problem persists across the same set of colonies for the past two years. Areas such as Omnagar, Shanti Nagar, Hiranagar, Shivji Park, Jacobpura, Sushant Lok (Block-C), Indira Colony, Sector-57 (G Block), Sector-42, 43, and Mohiyal Colony repeatedly top the complaint charts.

The situation is even worse in peri-urban villages like Basai, Kadipur, Naharpur Rupa, Jharssa, Tighra, Ghata, Chakkarpur, Mohammadpur Jharsa, Narsinghpur, Begumpur Khatola and Bandhwari, which also serve as ancillary industrial hubs. Housing thousands of migrant families, these areas cite sewerage overflow as their single biggest civic woe.

While inefficiency of civic agencies is the usual suspect, a recent MCG report submitted to Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini highlights the real culprit —illegal sewerage connections. Out of 5.52 lakh households in Gurugram, a staggering 3.67 lakh have illegally connected their drains to municipal pipelines. Only about 1.84 lakh households are officially linked.

“It’s rampant encroachment everywhere,” admitted an MCG Joint Commissioner. “Plots meant for single floors are turned into urban chawls in rental hubs, leading to maximum illegal connections and chaos. A survey is underway. We are working to regularise viable connections and disconnect those that are excessive.”

MCG Commissioner Pradeep Dahiya said a Sewerage Monitoring Cell has been set up to permanently address the crisis. “Around 40 key areas have been identified for a resolution plan. Illegal connections are the biggest problem for Gurugram. We are disconnecting them systematically and have already snapped over 100. Our goal is to eliminate sewerage overflow and blockages by April 30, 2026,” he said.